Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Coco Gauff continues to stun at this year’s U.S. Open, sexual harassment in the mining industry is a lasting threat for female miners, and Fortune editor-at-large Michal Lev-Ram reports on roboticist Yoky Matsuoka‘s latest challenge. Have a great Wednesday!
– Human power. Yoky Matsuoka has long believed in the power of technology to help human beings. As a University of Washington neurorobotics professor, she spent years researching and developing more life-like robotic prosthetics for people with disabilities. And in 2009, she launched a nonprofit, Yokyworks, which aims to develop all sorts of tech tools for children with learning challenges. (Matsuoka, who worked at Apple and Google, where she cofounded the company’s “moonshot factory,” X, funded her charitable organization after winning a MacArthur “genius” award in 2007.)
Now, the roboticist is doubling down on her efforts to harness all sorts of tools to help people. As the just-announced CEO of a newly-formed organization inside Panasonic, called PanasonicWELL, Matsuoka will work toward incubating and developing health and wellness-focused services for families and caretakers, in particular.
“PanasonicWELL is in many ways a manifestation of everything I’ve always strived to be,” Matsuoka told Fortune in a recent interview. “Fundamentally we are creating solutions—a combination of products and services—to deliver healthier lives for everybody, every day.”
Matsuoka isn’t new to Panasonic. But interestingly, her first undertaking for the Japanese electronics maker hasn’t had much to do with technology, let alone robotics. The tech exec joined Panasonic in 2021, when she launched a subsidiary called Yohana, a “family concierge service” that assists working parents in performing mundane tasks like planning meals, booking doctor appointments, and finding after-school activities for kids. But Yohana, which will now become part of Panasonic’s new health-focused business unit, does this not by utilizing robotics or generative A.I., but by relying on a team of real-life human helpers. Here’s how it works: For a subscription fee of $129 per month, users pick from a menu of tasks or create their to-do list from scratch. A team of people, including contractors and staffers, then work behind the scenes to purchase birthday gifts or make travel arrangements.
To be sure, there’s some level of tech involved. After all, Yohana is a mobile app. But it’s not exactly what you’d expect from Matsuoka, a pioneer in the field of neurorobotics. The fact that she has chosen to stick to Yohana’s human-first roots says a lot. Indeed, while technology will surely play a big role in future PanasonicWELL products, Matsuoka, a mother of four, is in no rush to rely on software or hardware that isn’t up to the task. And for now, at least, humans have the upper hand—it turns out that we’re really good at managing mundane (but complex) tasks like booking basketball camp for our kids.
Matsuoka has big aspirations for her new role though, and could end up returning to her roots. The former researcher has long dreamed of building a robot that does the dishes: “I’m keeping an eye on it,” she says. “I’m gonna get there.”
Michal Lev-Ram
michal.levram@fortune.com
@mlevram
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