Boston Dynamics, which is owned by Hyundai, is getting a new chief executive. According to Gizmodo, it will be Rohit Prasad, a former Amazon senior vice president and head scientist for AI and Alexa. The appointment was announced on Tuesday and he starts on Wednesday. Former CEO Robert Playter stepped down at the end of February.
Prasad's background is mainly in AI rather than robotics, which fits the company's emphasis on what it calls physical AI. The change follows a string of senior departures that Semafor described in May as a C-suite exodus.
Big plans, small batches
In May the company told investors it plans to build 30,000 humanoids by 2028: about 5,000 for sale on the open market and 25,000 for Hyundai and Kia factories. For scale, Semafor reported at the time that only four Atlas units were being made per month. According to the company's press release, Atlas can reach up to 7.5 feet (about 2.3 m) and lift 110 pounds (about 50 kg).
There is no official price. Expert estimates cited by the Korea Herald put the current build cost at about €116,000 to €125,000 ($130,000 to $140,000), falling to about €26,800 ($30,000) after 50,000 units, which would be well beyond 2028. For a buyer the takeaway is simple: leadership is changing in the middle of a production ramp, so it is worth watching whether timelines and pricing hold.
Source: Gizmodo, 6 October 2026.