Insider Brief
- Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter is stepping down after 30 years at the company, with CFO Amanda McMaster named interim chief executive as the board begins a search for a successor, according to TechCrunch.
- Playter became CEO in 2020, succeeding founder Marc Raibert, and led the transition from a research-focused lab spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 to a commercial robotics business.
- The company, now owned by Hyundai after prior ownership by Alphabet and SoftBank, is known for its quadruped Spot and humanoid Atlas platforms.
Boston Dynamics is changing leadership after three decades under one of its most recognizable executives.
Robert Playter is stepping down as chief executive of Boston Dynamics, according to a report by TechCrunch. Playter, who has been with the Massachusetts-based robotics company for 30 years and became CEO in 2020, announced the move in an internal memo. Chief Financial Officer Amanda McMaster will serve as interim CEO while the company searches for a successor.
Playter took over from founder Marc Raibert and helped steer the company from a research-driven lab into a commercial robotics business. Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992 as a spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was acquired by Alphabet in 2013, sold to SoftBank in 2017, and later acquired by Hyundai in 2021.
The company is best known for its four-legged robot Spot, which it commercialized in 2020, and more recently for Atlas, its humanoid platform.
Image credit: Boston Dynamics
