Boston Dynamics CEO and leadership

Dr. Robert Playter is CEO of Boston Dynamics. Under his leadership, Boston Dynamics is transforming its world-leading robotics R&D into an industry-leading commercial organization with its first robot offering, Spot. Previously, as Chief Operating Officer, he spearheaded Boston Dynamics’ entrance into logistics automation with the development of the robot Handle, and acquisition of the deep-learning computer vision software known as Pick. Dr. Playter has over 30 years of experience researching, developing, and commercializing advanced mobile robots. He led Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot programs, including the creation of the PETMAN and Atlas robots, as well as the development of Boston Dynamics’ physics-based simulation software, Digital Biomechanics. An NCAA Division I National Champion gymnast while studying at The Ohio State University, Playter became interested in exploring robotics inspired by human biomechanics. He received his PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from MIT in 1994. As part of his PhD thesis on robot gymnastics, performed at the MIT Leg Lab, he programmed a bipedal robot to do the world's first 3D robotic somersault.

Rachel Salamone is a Chief People Officer at Boston Dynamics and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. She has worked as Sr. Human Resources Representative/Generalist at Inframetrics Inc and VP of HR - Commercial and Government & Defense Business Units at FLIR SYSTEMS INC. Rachel attended University of Massachusetts Lowell and Suffolk University.

My passion is systems engineering in support of novel mobile robots. I have the honor of leading amazing multi-disciplinary teams that are responsible for setting the company's technological vision and ensuring research and development resources are aligned with the company's current and future business needs. I work on solving key problems that span our work across the company from filling the technology toolbox through new product prototypes.

Alfred Rizzi is a Chief Scientist at Boston Dynamics and is based in Belmont, Massachusetts. He has worked as Associate Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Post Doctoral Fellow at University of Michigan, and Engineer II at Northrop Grumman. Alfred studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) between 1982 and 1986, Yale University between 1988 and 1994, and RCDS between 1976 and 1982.

Mobile technology has been my life as an entrepreneur, investor, and senior operating executive since 1999. BA .500 Most recently, I was the EVP Strategy at publicly traded Millennial Media, and part of Michael Barrett's senior executive team. In this role, I was responsible for Corporate Development, Business Development and Strategic Alliances. In 2014, I led the acquisition of Nexage, a leading mobile RTB exchange, and in 2015 I was part of the deal team that sold Millennial Media to AOL & Verizon. In the past, I ran the mobile business unit of Admeld, before we sold the company to Google. At Admeld, I was a member of executive team that conceptualized the world’s first mobile RTB ...

Mike is responsible for Americas Sales for Honeywell Process Solutions. Mike applies his 25+ years of serving asset intensive industries and his 14+ years of experience leading teams and customers along their digitalization journey to achieve operational and asset optimization.