Physical AI Is More Than Robots, Says NVIDIA Veteran Turned Investor
Amulya Vishwanath, who spent seven years leading product marketing for NVIDIA's robotics platforms, argues that robotics is still in its "Lego era" โ a phase in which foundational components such as actuators, robotic hands, software, and safety standards are still being assembled and rebuilt.
Her view pushes back against the notion that robotics, powered by a general foundation model, is on the verge of its own "ChatGPT moment" โ the kind of breakthrough that stunned the world when OpenAI launched its chatbot in late 2022. Earlier this year, General Intuition CEO Pim de Witte told TechCrunch's Equity podcast that a single general foundation model would render much of today's specialized robotics work redundant, and that this would mark that long-awaited inflection point.
From NVIDIA to First Checks
On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Dominic-Madori Davis spoke with Vishwanath about where she is writing her first checks as founder and managing partner of Techable VC. They also discussed what she learned as one of the first women executives to spin out of NVIDIA and launch her own early-stage firm, which invests in physical AI across robotics, materials science, and life sciences.
What Listeners Will Hear
- Why physical AI is bigger than robots. Vishwanath defines it broadly: "a molecule, a material, a medicine," or a machine on a factory line.
- What she means by "conscious automation."
- Why the biggest opportunities solve real problems โ from family-run factories that can't find workers to surgeons facing burnout.
- Why founders should treat their VC as a moat, and how her years at NVIDIA built the network she now leverages for due diligence and customer introductions.
- Where the U.S. and China each hold an edge, and why humanoids should be capable of more than dancing.
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