How Boston Dynamics is turning robots into a real business

Good morning. Boston Dynamics has spent years proving that robots can do extraordinary things. Its next challenge is making them economically viable at scale, which takes a sales operation, cost control and reliable deployment.

That was the message from Amanda McMaster, Boston Dynamics’ CFO for six years, who served as interim CEO from February until Rohit Prasad took the helm Oct. 7. “Inbound demand at some point dries up,” McMaster told Fortune’s Ellie Austin at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit last week. “You need a proactive sales motion.”

When the company was early in its commercial journey, McMaster helped build its operational systems, sales leadership and the service infrastructure customers need to get value from robots.

Spot, the company’s four-legged robot, costs about $100,000 for the base platform and up to $300,000 depending on payloads, she said. It conducts inspections and equipment readings in semiconductor manufacturing, food and beverage production, and public safety. Intel is one of Boston Dynamics’ largest Spot customers. Through the Orbit software platform, customers can search their facilities “almost like a Google Street View,” McMaster said.

She argues that robots are augmenting human labor, not replacing it, by taking on “dull, dirty, dangerous work.” Workers, she noted, are even........

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