With a view to put greater emphasis on the intelligence of its robots, Boston Dynamics has named Rohit Prasad as its new Chief Executive Officer.
Prasad will take the helm on 7 October 2026 with clear instructions to drive the company’s Physical AI strategy and make its intelligent robotics commercially viable at scale. The move is significant for the industry as Boston Dynamics seeks to evolve from a maker of hardware and mobility into an enterprise where physical machines and advanced AI are combined in real-world settings.
The company is well served by Prasad’s background. He comes to us from Amazon after 12 years there as Senior Vice President and Head Scientist for Alexa and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). He is also slated to come on to the Boston Dynamics board of Directors, pending approval.
Why Boston Dynamics Is Bringing AI to the Centre of Robotics
Boston Dynamics has built its reputation on the likes of Atlas, Spot and Stretch, robots that have shown what can be done in terms of autonomous control and mobility. Now the plan under Prasad is to layer large-scale AI on top of that foundation and push for commercial deployment in logistics, manufacturing and other industrial sectors.
Prasad has a track record of moving AI from the lab to products of global reach. During his time at Amazon he was instrumental in making Alexa a household name in hundreds of millions of homes and led the development of Amazon Nova, an enterprise suite of foundation models.
“Rohit’s capacity to productise AI at a global level is a solid base on which to build and scale our Physical AI,” said Jaehoon Chang, vice chair of Hyundai Motor Group and chair of the Boston Dynamics board.
From Alexa to the Factory Floor
Prasad’s 12-year tenure at Amazon, from 2013 to 2025, saw him in every key role for Alexa, from Director of Machine Learning to Chief Scientist. He was part of the original core team on the project Jeff Bezos put his name to. His work there tracked the progress of AI itself, through speech and language to generative and multimodal systems and AGI. Prior to that he had close to 14 years at Raytheon BBN Technologies focused on advanced speech and AI tech.
What Physical AI Means for Industrial Robotics
For the business world, this is about more than predefined tasks. Boston Dynamics’ definition of Physical AI is one in which sensors, actuators and mobility are paired with the reasoning and planning of AI so a robot can assess its situation and act accordingly. We intend to bring that to markets including the Hyundai Motor Group’s industrial operations.
A New Direction for Boston Dynamics
It is a new chapter for the company. Prasad takes over from Robert Playter who left the CEO post in February 2026 following the Hyundai acquisition and the initial roll out of products like Stretch and Spot.
The change in leadership tells you where Boston Dynamics is headed: we want to create machines that can reason and understand their environment, not just ones that can move. For those in the automation space, how fast that kind of Physical AI becomes part of everyday industrial work will be the test.
