Apple hires Google X lab cofounder, former Nest head of technology to work on health projects
Apple recently expanded its health technology team in a big way with the hire of Yoky Matsuoka, a robotics expert who co-founded Google's experimental X labs and most recently served as head of technology at Nest.
According to Fortune, Matsuoka is working on health initiatives under Apple COO Jeff Williams, who leads a variety of groups handling HealthKit, ResearchKit and the new CareKit app building framework, among other projects.
Matsuoka, originally from Japan, attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she became interested in robotics. After receiving a PhD in electrical engineering from MIT, Matsuoka worked at Barrett Technology, where she developed software for the groundbreaking BarrettHand prosthetic. Her research and contributions to the fields of neuroscience and robotics -- "neurobotics" -- garnered multiple awards, including a 2007 grant from the prestigious MacArthur Foundation.
She later spent time teaching robotics at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington in Seattle. Coincidentally, Matt Rogers, a former Apple engineer who co-founded Nest with "godfather of the iPod" Tony Fadell, was one of Matsuoka's students at Carnegie Mellon.
Following her stint at UW, Matsuoka moved to Google in 2009 to help build out that company's X research and development facility. In 2010, Matsuoka joined Rogers at Nest as head of technology, where she created the user interface and learning algorithms for the Nest Learning Thermostat. She announced her departure from Nest shortly after Google acquired the company in 2014.
Most recently, Matsuoka said she was joining Twitter, but an illness sidetracked those plans.
It is unclear what, exactly, the robotics expert will be doing at Apple, though the company currently has a number of health-related initiatives in the works. Technology derived from those projects has for the most part been limited to Apple Watch, specifically Apple's heart rate monitor.
According to Fortune, Matsuoka is working on health initiatives under Apple COO Jeff Williams, who leads a variety of groups handling HealthKit, ResearchKit and the new CareKit app building framework, among other projects.
Matsuoka, originally from Japan, attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she became interested in robotics. After receiving a PhD in electrical engineering from MIT, Matsuoka worked at Barrett Technology, where she developed software for the groundbreaking BarrettHand prosthetic. Her research and contributions to the fields of neuroscience and robotics -- "neurobotics" -- garnered multiple awards, including a 2007 grant from the prestigious MacArthur Foundation.
She later spent time teaching robotics at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington in Seattle. Coincidentally, Matt Rogers, a former Apple engineer who co-founded Nest with "godfather of the iPod" Tony Fadell, was one of Matsuoka's students at Carnegie Mellon.
Following her stint at UW, Matsuoka moved to Google in 2009 to help build out that company's X research and development facility. In 2010, Matsuoka joined Rogers at Nest as head of technology, where she created the user interface and learning algorithms for the Nest Learning Thermostat. She announced her departure from Nest shortly after Google acquired the company in 2014.
Most recently, Matsuoka said she was joining Twitter, but an illness sidetracked those plans.
It is unclear what, exactly, the robotics expert will be doing at Apple, though the company currently has a number of health-related initiatives in the works. Technology derived from those projects has for the most part been limited to Apple Watch, specifically Apple's heart rate monitor.
Comments
You can bet she wasn't allowed enough creative input. Going from GoogX to Nest, REALLY? And nothing has gotten done?
I would have went to Apple too. You know, where stuff is actually happening.
One of the important inventions of my lifetime will be a reliable and accurate non-invasive blood sugar monitor in a consumer product like Apple Watch. If Apple manages in the next 8 years to pull this off it'll be enough reason for the company to have existed. That and a non-invasive hydration sensor that is capable of sending you a local push notification to drink some water before you are aware you need some. This would be quite useful too I could imagine.
Most especially the blood sugar monitor though, it would make Apple Watch basically indispensable for diabetics everywhere—I could see many doctors recommended their patients get one. For medical use it'd be shockingly cheap for what it is and most surprisingly this revolutionary medical device would be fashionable.
Seriously I think Nest will close down soon because it is considered to be a $3 Billion joke by other Googlers.
Time will tell.
....
Just feeling sarcastic today.
But I do appreciate that they've got plans.
Where does @Ireland say only Apple is working on it? He made a very nice post where he talked about what he felt could be the Apple Watch's legacy. He never said anything about no one else doing it.
You're Apple/ Apple fans hatred just makes you look for things that aren't there.
What's ironic is that you call an American an Asian...
http://infravitals.com/
Fed approval will be the biggest holdup, not the technology that makes it possible.