Boston Dynamics appoints Rohit Prasad as CEO; former Amazon AI chief to lead ‘Physical AI’ strategy

Boston Dynamics has appointed former Amazon AI executive Rohit Prasad as CEO, tasking him with leading its ‘Physical AI’ strategy. The move comes as Hyundai pushes to commercialise humanoid robots such as Atlas and scale production for industrial applications.

Boston Dynamics has appointed former Amazon executive Rohit Prasad as its new chief executive officer, effective October 7, 2026. Prasad will spearhead Hyundai Motor's robotics firm's efforts to develop “Physical AI” (intelligent robots that can work independently in industrial, enterprise and other real-world settings), the firm said Tuesday.

After 12 years at Amazon, where he was instrumental in developing Alexa and led the Amazon Artificial Intelligence team on artificial intelligence and foundation model development, Prasad joined Boston Dynamics. The appointment comes as Boston Dynamics prepares to commercialise its humanoid robots, such as Atlas, while Hyundai moves towards full ownership of the company and plans large-scale humanoid production.

Rohit Prasad brings Amazon and Raytheon experience

Prasad most recently worked as Senior Vice President and Head Scientist at the “Alexa and Artificial General Intelligence” group at Amazon, Boston Dynamics said. He played a key role in the development of Alexa, from its earliest stages to being used in hundreds of millions of homes around the world, the company said.

Prasad was also responsible for developing Amazon's Nova, a family of foundation models for enterprise use. Prior to Amazon, he spent almost 14 years at Raytheon BBN Technologies, where he directed machine learning research and applications for government and commercial customers.

Boston Dynamics pushes physical AI strategy

According to Boston Dynamics, Prasad's move is designed to integrate advanced artificial intelligence with its robotics technology and expand the use of intelligent machines in commercial applications.

Pragya Singha Roy