Apple recently hired Nest’s former Vice President of Technology to work on health related projects at the company. Yoky Matsuoka, a well known robotics expert who co-founded the Google X experimental project lab, joined Apple after leaving Nest last year. At Nest, she led the development of machine learning algorithms for the Nest Learning Thermostat.
At Apple, Matsuoka is working under the company’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams, who is in charge of Apple’s health initiatives like Research Kit, Health Kit, and Care Kit.
Matsuoka has experience in robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, all areas Apple has expressed interest in through recent acquisitions like VocalIQ, Emotient, and Perceptio. Matsuoka will be working on health related projects, but the report does not include specifics on what she will be doing or how her robotics expertise might be applied to Apple products.
