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Julie M.

Walker

STANFORD MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PH.D.

WHO I AM

I'm a software engineering manager at Intuitive Surgical. My team develops the user interface, navigation algorithms, software infrastructure for the Ion Endoluminal system for robotically assisted bronchoscopy. I studied robotics at Stanford University in the Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine lab (CHARM Lab) with Professor Allison Okamura. My PhD research focuses on haptic interactions (touch feedback) in hand-held and wearable devices for applications like medicine and virtual reality. In handheld devices such as ultrasound probes and laparoscopic tools, providing haptic feedback is challenging because the device can't be mechanically grounded to an external surface. Similarly, haptics can make virtual reality interactions more compelling, but to allow a user to move in a large workspace it is important that any haptics be ungrounded. My PhD thesis focuses on addressing these challenges.

 

I grew up in Freehold, New Jersey, where I attended a magnet high school focused on engineering and marine sciences. I graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University in May 2014, where I first worked in a robotics research lab. At Stanford, I have taken classes in mechatronics, dynamics, control systems, robotics, and machine learning. I completed an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2016 and Ph.D. in 2020. On this site, I try to capture my past and present research, projects, and side interests.

 

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