Alexa's Architect Takes Over As Boston Dynamics CEO
Rohit Prasad, who spent 12 years at Amazon leading its Alexa and foundation-model work, becomes chief executive of the Hyundai-owned robot maker.
Boston Dynamics has named Rohit Prasad, a longtime artificial intelligence executive from Amazon, as its chief executive, with the appointment taking effect October 7, India Today reported.
Prasad replaces Robert Playter, who left the top job in February after six years running the robot maker. Prasad is also slated to join the board, pending approval.
His background is in AI software rather than in building machines. Prasad worked at Amazon for 12 years, where he oversaw the Alexa voice assistant and the company's artificial general intelligence work as a senior executive and top scientist, and later directed work on Amazon Nova, a set of foundation models aimed at business customers. Earlier in his career he spent close to 14 years at Raytheon BBN Technologies on machine-learning research for government and commercial clients. He studied engineering at Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, in India before graduate work in the United States.
The hire lands as Boston Dynamics pitches what it describes as "Physical AI," or systems that can operate in the real world. Its product line includes the Spot inspection robot, the Stretch box-handling machine and the Atlas humanoid. Parent company Hyundai Motor Group intends to put Atlas robots to work in its factories beginning in 2028.
This story was first reported by India Today.
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