When Yoky Matsuoka was growing up in Tokyo, Japan, in the 1980s, she dreamed of becoming a world-famous tennis player. But when repeated injuries dashed her hopes, she found her way to a new dream: to create a robot who could play tennis with her. Yoky’s curiosity about the world, her limitless appetite for knowledge, and her ability to draw together different fields of study would one day lead her to become a pioneering force in the emerging field of neurobotics—and to create the most human-like robotic hand the world has ever seen. [This episode originally aired April 2021.]

About the Narrator

Physicist and ballet dancer Dr. Merritt Moore believes that the arts and sciences should not be mutually exclusive, and she inspires young women around the world to pursue their dreams. She graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honors in Physics from Harvard and graduated with a PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics from the University of Oxford. She also pursues a professional ballet career, previously with the Zurich Ballet, Boston Ballet, English National Ballet, and Norwegian National Ballet. Currently she works on creating dances with robots and was recently invited as one of the first artist-in-residence at Harvard ArtLab to create a duet between a human dancer and an industrial robotic arm.

Credits

This podcast is a production of Rebel Girls. It’s based on the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. Executive Producer was Katie Sprenger. This episode was produced, sound designed, and mixed by Camille Stennis. This episode was written by Alexis Stratton. Proofread by Ariana Rosas. A special thanks to the whole Rebel Girls team, who make this podcast possible! Original theme music was composed and performed by Elettra Bargiacchi. For more, visit www.rebelgirls.com.