From demos to business

Boston Dynamics has proven robots work. Now it must make them economically viable at scale through sales operations, cost control and reliable deployment.

McMaster's message

Amanda McMaster, Boston Dynamics CFO for six years and interim CEO until October seventh, told Fortune that inbound demand eventually dries up. The company needs a proactive sales motion.

“Inbound demand at some point dries up. You need a proactive sales motion.”

Spot's market position

Spot, the four-legged robot, costs about one hundred thousand dollars for the base platform and up to three hundred thousand dollars depending on payloads.

Augmenting, not replacing

McMaster argues robots augment human labor by taking on dull, dirty, dangerous work. Workers are even naming the robots, suggesting acceptance rather than displacement.

Atlas and scale

Atlas, the humanoid robot, tests whether Boston Dynamics can manufacture and deploy advanced machines at scale while bringing costs down. Roughly seventy percent of Atlas's bill of materials is actuators.

Hyundai's commitment

Hyundai Mobis will produce Atlas actuators at cost. Owner Hyundai committed to about fifty thousand robot deployments across Hyundai Motor and Kia facilities, providing planning certainty and cost target certainty.

McMaster's interim leadership

As interim CEO, McMaster reorganized the entire company about two weeks in. She said the company had been very slow to make decisions and her approach was to rip the Band-Aid off.

“We have been very slow to make it. Her approach: Rip the Band-Aid off.”

Prasad takes the helm

Rohit Prasad became CEO on October seventh. The former Amazon SVP and head scientist for Alexa and artificial general intelligence inherits robotics expertise, an industrial parent and a growing commercial foundation.