Boston Dynamics, the US robotics company owned by Hyundai Motor Group, has appointed former Amazon artificial intelligence executive Rohit Prasad as its new CEO as the company seeks to speed up commercialization of AI-powered robots.
Prasad officially took office Wednesday, the company said, bringing extensive experience in developing and commercializing AI technologies.
The appointment comes as Boston Dynamics — the company behind the Atlas humanoid, Spot quadruped robots and the Stretch warehouse automation robot — prepares to move its humanoid robots beyond experimental testing and toward large-scale industrial deployment.
Prasad's appointment is expected to strengthen the company's push into physical AI, which combines advanced AI with robotics to enable machines to operate more autonomously and adapt to real-world environments.
Before joining Boston Dynamics, Prasad spent 12 years at Amazon, where he served as senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa and artificial general intelligence, or AGI.
He played a key role in developing Alexa from its early stages into a consumer AI service used in hundreds of millions of households worldwide. More recently, he led the development of Amazon Nova, a family of foundation models designed for enterprise use.
Before Amazon, Prasad spent nearly 14 years at Raytheon BBN Technologies, where he led machine learning research and helped apply the technology to US government and commercial projects.
At Boston Dynamics, Prasad will focus on commercializing intelligent robotic systems, with an emphasis on improving safety, productivity, and operational efficiency across industrial and commercial environments, according to the company.
"By bringing together advanced AI and robotics, we can build intelligent systems that create meaningful value in real-world environments, expand the reach of robotics across industries, and shape the next era of physical AI," Prasad said.
"Boston Dynamics' industry-leading robotics, Rohit's proven ability to turn AI into products at global scale, and Hyundai Motor Group's modern manufacturing, logistics, and mobility capabilities give us a powerful foundation to build and scale physical AI," said Chang Jae-hoon, vice chair of Hyundai Motor Group and chair of Boston Dynamics' board.
Prasad is also expected to join Boston Dynamics' board of directors, subject to regulatory and other necessary approvals.
sahn@heraldcorp.com
