UW researcher wins “genius” award October 26, 2007
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(photo courtesy of the University of Washington)
Yoky Matsuoka, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), has won a $500,000, “no-strings-attached” prize for her work with the CSE’s Neurobotics Laboratory. She has also been named to Popular Science’s “Brilliant Ten,” an annual list of the most influential researchers in the United States.Matsuoka earned the cash award from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of the MacArthur Fellows program. These so-called “genius awards” are given to “talented individuals have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction,” according the foundation’s Web site. Fellows are nominated by their peers and chosen by an anonymous group of about 12 leading figures in the arts, sciences and humanities; usually 20 to 30 Fellows are selected each year, with 756 named since June 1981.In Matsuoka’s case, she won on the basis of her original research into the intersection between robotics and neuroscience. Her lab examines how the central nervous system uses signals to control the movement of the human body. The goal is to mimic this often little-understood process to create more advanced, lifelike robotic prosthetics for disabled people.
“The MacArthur award is a huge thing both for Yoky and for CSE,” said Hank Levy, the departmental chair. “Obviously it highlights Yoky and the quality of her work, but it’s also a statement about the quality of the department.”
Existing prosthetic technology is limited to a few simple movements, such as the rotation of a robotic wrist or the clamping of two fingers.
Matsuoka wants to go several steps beyond this.
An example of her work involves a robotic hand modeled on its human equivalent. Seven separate artificial “tendons” are connected to each finger, and powered by motors that serve as the hand’s “muscles.” In a method more akin to Luke Skywalker’s robotic hand from Star Wars than current prosthetic devices, people would control Matsuoka’s hand by using brain signals, just like a “real” one, giving them much more freedom of movement and utility.
Matsuoka, who has a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), both in electrical engineering and computer science, is uniquely equipped to handle the interdisciplinary aspects of her work.
At MIT, she helped build a highly advanced humanoid robot named Cog, designed to replicate a human body. She went on to teach at Carnegie Mellon University, starting her neurobotics (a combination of “neuroscience” and “robotics”) laboratory. In 2006, she brought her lab with her when she left Carnegie Mellon for the UW.
Matsuoka may use the prize money to start a nonprofit organization or put it back into her research.
Either way, Levy hopes more students will be attracted to robotics because of her work and its potential to help people in practical ways. He said he couldn’t be more proud of the ambitious scope of Matsuoka’s research.
“What’s remarkable is the number of technical areas that her work bridges, including robotics, mechanical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, biology and neuroscience,” he said.
“She puts them all together to create devices that can make a difference to peoples’ lives.”
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