Fireside Chat with Robert Playter

Robert Playter is the former CEO of Boston Dynamics, the company behind the most advanced robots the world has ever seen. A former gymnast with a PhD from MIT, he began in Marc Raibert’s legendary Leg Lab, where he engineered robots that could flip and somersault through the air. He joined Boston Dynamics in its earliest days in 1994, rose to lead its engineering, and became CEO in 2019, guiding the company from a pure research lab into a commercial powerhouse. Under his leadership, machines like the agile Spot and the humanoid Atlas went from viral demonstrations to real products reshaping industry.

In this fireside chat, Robert Playter will share what nearly three decades at the frontier of robotics have taught him: how to carry a bold vision from the lab into the real world, what it takes to build machines that move like living things, and how a company turns the seemingly impossible into the everyday. Whether you are drawn to robotics, engineering, or entrepreneurship, this is a rare chance to learn from the person who helped bring Boston Dynamics’ robots to life.