Boston Dynamics Appoints Former Amazon Executive Rohit Prasad as New CEO
Boston Dynamics has appointed Rohit Prasad, a former Amazon executive who helped lead the Alexa division, as its new Chief Executive Officer. He replaces former CEO Robert Playter to spearhead the company's shift toward physical AI innovation and enterprise commercialization. This leadership transition signals Boston Dynamics' shift from a research-focused robotics lab into a mass-production commercial enterprise under Hyundai Motor Group. With Hyundai targeting factory deployment of Atlas by 2028 and an annual capacity of 30,000 humanoid units, the move reflects the growing industry momentum around physical AI in manufacturing. Hyundai is currently finalizing the acquisition of SoftBank's remaining shares to gain full control of Boston Dynamics while partnering with NVIDIA and Google DeepMind to refine Atlas. The electric Atlas robots will initially handle simple tasks like welding and logistics, moving to complex component assembly around 2030.
## BACKGROUND
Boston Dynamics retired its famous hydraulic Atlas robot in early 2024 and launched an all-electric Atlas designed specifically for commercial work. Physical AI refers to artificial intelligence models capable of understanding real-world physical laws and performing practical object-manipulation tasks in dynamic environments.