Ex-Nvidia executive says robotics is still in its “Lego era”
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Amulya Vishwanath, who spent seven years leading product marketing for NVIDIA’s robotics platforms, says the sector is in a “Lego era”: actuators, robotic hands, software and safety standards are still being rebuilt. The view contrasts with the idea that a general foundation model will bring robotics its own ChatGPT moment and make much of today’s specialized work redundant, as General Intuition CEO Pim de Witte told the Equity podcast earlier this year.
In an interview on TechCrunch’s podcast, Vishwanath discussed her first investments as founder and managing partner of Techable VC, which invests in physical AI across areas including robotics, materials science and life sciences. She defines physical AI as broader than robots — including “a molecule, a material, a medicine” — and looks for companies addressing problems such as worker shortages at family-run factories and surgeon burnout.
Why it matters · editorial interpretation
Vishwanath’s assessment suggests that opportunities in physical AI may be distributed across components, materials, software and safety standards, rather than concentrated in a single foundation model. For investors and companies, that shifts attention toward specific problems—such as worker shortages and surgeon burnout—and the integration required among these pieces.