Prasad has a long history in the artificial intelligence sector and will aim to accelerate the organisation’s physical AI strategy.

Robotics company Boston Dynamics has announced that former senior-vice president and head scientist for Alexa and artificial general intelligence at Amazon, Rohit Prasad, will be the new CEO.

Prasad will take over the role from Robert Playter, who stepped down earlier this year after holding the position for six years. Playter was only the second person to have been in that role in the organisation’s more than 30-year history. 

During his 12 years at Amazon, Prasad was key in building the company’s household virtual assistant Alexa and he also led the development of the Amazon Nova foundation model family which is used by enterprises.

Prior to joining Amazon, Prasad spent nearly 14 years at Raytheon BBN Technologies, leading machine learning research and real-world applications for US government and commercial use.

According to Boston Dynamics, as part of the team, Prasad will accelerate the organisation’s physical AI strategy by combining robotics and advanced AI capabilities to “commercialise intelligent machines at scale”. It is also expected that Prasad will join the company’s board of directors.

Commenting on his appointment, Prasad said: “Boston Dynamics is uniquely positioned to advance physical AI through its world-class robotics expertise. I am honoured to join the company at such a pivotal moment for the industry. 

“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.”

Jaehoon Chang, the vice-chair for the Hyundai Motor Group and chair of the board of directors at Boston Dynamics, welcomed Prasad to the team, adding: “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.”

Reportedly, Hyundai is moving to acquire SoftBank Group Corp’s remaining stake in Boston Dynamics as a means of securing full ownership of the robotics company. 

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