Boston Dynamics names Rohit Prasad as new CEO

Recap

Source: The Robot Report, report of Oct. 7, 2026

According to the report, Boston Dynamics has named Rohit Prasad as its new Chief Executive Officer, with the appointment taking effect on October 7, 2026. Prasad steps in to replace Amanda McMaster, the company's Chief Financial Officer, who had been serving as interim CEO since former leader Robert Playter stepped down in February. This marks the end of a nearly nine-month leadership transition period.

Prior to this role, Prasad spent 12 years at Amazon, where he served as senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa and artificial general intelligence. The company states that his appointment is designed to accelerate its "physical AI" strategy by merging its robotics expertise with advanced AI capabilities to commercialize intelligent machines at scale. Prasad has stated his intention to productize intelligent robotic systems that enhance safety and operational efficiency in industrial and commercial settings. He is also expected to join the company's Board of Directors, subject to relevant approvals.

The report notes that Prasad is the third CEO in Boston Dynamics' history, following founder Marc Raibert, who led the company from its 1992 founding until 2020. In addition to the leadership change, the company shared recent product updates, including a new four-fingered hand for the Atlas humanoid designed for simulation-to-reinforcement learning, and the opening of a training center at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia. The company also released Spot 5.2, which features agentic workflows and inspections powered by Google Gemini, and announced plans to spend $100 million expanding its facilities in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Context

Boston Dynamics has been under the ownership of Hyundai Motor Group since 2021, when Hyundai acquired a controlling stake from SoftBank Group. This acquisition has aligned the robotics firm with Hyundai's broader mobility and manufacturing ecosystem. The company is known for high-profile platforms like the Atlas humanoid and the Spot quadruped, which have moved from research demonstrations toward commercial applications in logistics and industrial inspection. The appointment of an executive with deep experience in large-scale consumer AI and foundation models signals a strategic pivot toward integrating sophisticated software intelligence with hardware capabilities.

Robot's take

This leadership change suggests Boston Dynamics is prioritizing the software and AI integration layer as much as the mechanical engineering. By bringing in a leader who scaled Alexa and Amazon's Nova foundation models, the company may be aiming to make its robots more autonomous and adaptable in unstructured real-world environments. However, the challenge will be translating these AI capabilities into reliable, safe, and commercially viable products. The recent unveiling of the Atlas hand for reinforcement learning and the Spot 5.2 agentic workflows indicate that this AI-first approach is already being implemented in their product roadmap. It remains to be seen how quickly these advanced AI features can be deployed at scale without compromising the robustness that Boston Dynamics is known for.