Boston Dynamics appoints Alexa veteran Rohit Prasad to lead its robots business
Boston Dynamics appointed Rohit Prasad as chief executive, effective October 7. The former Amazon Alexa and AI leader takes responsibility for commercializing intelligent robots for industrial customers. The company’s portfolio includes inspection robot Spot, box-moving Stretch and the electric Atlas platform under development. His proposed board membership remains subject to approval.
Artificial Intelligence··Midday
An Alexa veteran takes charge of Boston Dynamics
Boston Dynamics, the robotics company, appointed former Amazon Alexa executive Rohit Prasad as its chief executive.[1], [2]
The appointment was announced on 6 October and takes effect on 7 October. Boston Dynamics links the change to combining AI with robotics and commercializing intelligent machines for industrial and business customers. Prasad is also expected to join the board, subject to the relevant approval process. Hyundai Motor Group owns the company.[1]
Prasad brings experience in voice assistants and models
Prasad spent 12 years at Amazon, serving as senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa and artificial general intelligence. He helped build Alexa from its early stages into a large consumer service and more recently led development of the Amazon Nova foundation-model family for enterprise use.[1]
The portfolio spans inspection and warehouse robots
Before Amazon, Prasad spent approximately 14 years at Raytheon BBN Technologies on machine-learning research and applications for government and commercial users. Boston Dynamics’ portfolio includes Spot, a four-legged industrial inspection robot, and Stretch, a box-moving system for logistics and retail. Its electric humanoid Atlas is under development. Board chair Jaehoon Chang links the company’s robotics work with Hyundai’s manufacturing, logistics and mobility capabilities.[1]
