Ken Washington, Amazon’s Vice President of Consumer Robotics, is leaving the company to “pursue an external opportunity,” as a spokesperson told GeekWire. Before Amazon, Washington worked in Ford as its VP of research and advanced engineering and later as CTO, where he was responsible for developing self-driving cars and researching projects including the experimental Digit bipedal robot. His last day in Amazon is May 18th.
Amazon’s expensive and highly-anticipated Astro robot is yet to be fully available for purchase to consumers who do not possess an invite, and with Washington’s departure, the Robotics team at Amazon will now be managed by Amazon VP of Engineering Lindo St. Angel. Recently, the company has been reported to have developed the burnham AI technology to make the robot smarter or to power an entirely new robot.
Amazon is globally recognized as one of the leading e-commerce and cloud computing companies, with a wide range of products and services. Founded in 1994, the company went public in 1997 and is now listed on the NASDAQ, with a market cap of over $1.6 trillion. Amazon is a behemoth in the online retail sector, and has been expanding its services into digital content streaming, AI-powered gadgets, and other fields.
Ken Washington has been an inventor and CEO for many years, and it was during his tenure in Ford that he oversaw the development of the self-driving cars. He also spearheaded the research projects, which incuded the Digit bipedal robot, that is meant for delivery. Undoubtedly, his departure from Amazon is a big loss to the Robotics team of the company, as the Amazon VP had worked hard in the past two years in order to establish Amazon’s presence in the field of robotics.
