Allison Okamura

Timeline

1. 1994–2000

   Engineering degrees in California

   Born in Fontana, California, she grows up in Riverside. She earns a BS in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley in 1994 and an MS in 1996 and PhD in 2000 at Stanford. Her doctoral advisor is Mark Cutkosky, with whom she studies how robotic fingers manipulate objects and map their surfaces.

2. 2000–2011

   Medical robotics at Johns Hopkins

   In 2000, she joins Johns Hopkins University's Department of Mechanical Engineering as an assistant professor. Through its engineering research center for computer-integrated surgical systems and technology, she studies touch feedback for surgeons who use the da Vinci robot. Her Johns Hopkins roles include professor and vice chair of mechanical engineering.

3. 2011–2012

   Teaching medical robotics at Stanford

   She joins Stanford's faculty in July 2011. In April 2012, she teaches a new Medical Robotics class with Federico Barbagli.

4. 2017

   A robot that grows

   In 2017, she works with Elliot Hawkes and colleagues at Stanford and UC Santa Barbara on the study “A soft robot that navigates its environment through growth.” The vine-inspired tubular robot extends its tip and steers in response to external sensing.

5. 2022

   Touch feedback for robot learning

   In 2022, she coauthors a deep imitation learning study with Catie Cuan and Mohi Khansari. The team finds that touch feedback during human demonstrations improves training data collection and the learned policy for a robot that opens doors.

6. December 2024

   The Haptiknit touch sleeve

   In December 2024, she is senior author of the Haptiknit study in Science Robotics. Developed with colleagues at Stanford and MIT, the knitted sleeve uses small inflatable pouches to deliver touch feedback.

7. 2026

   The Robotics Medal

   In 2026, MassRobotics names her the Robotics Medal recipient for research in haptics, medical robotics, and robot design, as well as robotics education and mentorship of women.

8. As of October 2026

   Stanford professor and robotics leader

   As of October 2026, she is the Richard W. Weiland Professor of Engineering in Stanford's Department of Mechanical Engineering, with a courtesy appointment in computer science. Her research includes haptics, teleoperation, medical robotics, soft robotics, and rehabilitation. She serves on the Stanford Robotics Center's executive committee and leads the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's Science and Technology Watch Board.