Boston Dynamics appoints former Amazon AI chief to steer robotics commercialization

Boston Dynamics announced that Rohit Prasad will become its chief executive officer, bringing over two decades of experience in artificial intelligence. Prasad joined Amazon in 2013, helped launch Alexa, and later oversaw the development of Amazon Nova, a suite of foundation models for generative AI. His 12-year tenure at Amazon included serving as senior vice president and head scientist for both Alexa and artificial general intelligence.

Before that, he spent nearly 14 years at Raytheon BBN Technologies working on machine-learning research for government and commercial clients. Boston Dynamics expects Prasad’s expertise in productizing AI to accelerate the commercialization of intelligent robotic systems and expand physical AI applications in real-world industrial environments. The firm, part of Hyundai Motor Group, sees the partnership as an opportunity to test and deploy AI-powered robots within Hyundai’s manufacturing, logistics and mobility operations. Prasad, a longtime Boston resident, also aims to leverage his local network to attract talent and deepen collaborations.