Yoky Matsuoka Assistant Professor, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, CMU, - Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation, Pitt Carnegie Mellon University Phone: (412) 268-8127 Fax: (412) 268-6436 Email: yoky@cs.cmu.edu Individual Website: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~yoky

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Interests Professor Matsuoka's research is directed toward constructing assistive, haptic and other robotic devices to understand, assist, and enhance the human motor control and learning systems. There are three multidisciplinary approaches taken in this research. The first approach is to investigate the sensori-motor control mechanisms in the central nervous system by performing psychophysical experiments on human subjects. Explorations of learning limits and/or the difference between normal and neurologically-impaired subjects can shed light on techniques to provide the stimuli required for learning enhancement. The second approach is to investigate the interface between the neural systems and external devices. Recent findings suggest that animals are capable of performing tasks that are normally impossible when they are provided with artificial neural feedback. Professor Matsuoka is interested in extracting neuromuscular parameters of human subjects during training, manipulating the parameters externally, and applying artificial force or electrical feedback. Experiments can then be performed to determine the effect of artificial feedback on human motor control and learning. The third approach is the development of human interactive/interface robots (i.e. wearable, haptic, and humanoid robots). There is growing acceptance of robots as safe devices for surgery and rehabilitation. However, the relationship between the design of the robot and the effect on the interacting person is not well understood. Professor Matsuoka intends to optimize robot design, actuators and sensors for safety, comfort and human motor performance enhancement. Recent Publications Matsuoka, Y.; Allin, S.J.; Klatzky R.L. The Tolerance for Visual Feedback Distortions in a Virtual Environment Physiology & Behavior 77(4-5) pp.651655. 2002. Wilkinson, D.D.; Vande Weghe, M.; Matsuoka, Y. An Extensor Mechanism for an Anatomical Robotic Hand In Proc. IEEE Intl. Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2003. Brewer, B; Klatzky, R; Matsuoka Y. Feedback Distortion to Overcome Learned Nonuse: A System Overview. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 2003. Matsuoka, Y.; Townsend, W.T. Design of Life-size Haptic Environments, Experimental Robotics VII, pp.461470, 2001. Brewer, B.; Klatzky, R.; Matsuoka, Y. “Perceptual Limits for a Robotic Rehabilitation Environment Using Visual Feedback Distortion” IEEE Trans. Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, Accepted, 2004. Matsuoka Y., Afshar, P. “Neuromuscular Strategies for Dynamic Finger Movements: A Robotic Approach.” IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Accepted, 2004. Vande Weghe, M.; Rogers, M.; Weissert, M.; Matsuoka, Y. “The ACT Hand: Design of the Skeletal Structure”, The Proceedings of the IEEE Intl. Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp.3375—3379, 2004. Widge, A.; Jeffries-El, M.; Lagenaur, C.; Weedn, V.; Matsuoka, Y. “Cunductive Polymer ‘Molecular Wires’ For Neuro-Robotic Interfaces”, The Proceedings of the IEEE Intl. Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp.5058—5063, 2004.