Amulya Vishwanath, founder and managing partner of Techable Ventures, a venture firm focused on physical AI, told TechCrunch's Equity podcast that the field is in its LEGO era. TechCrunch's Dominic-Madori Davis published the interview on October 20.
Her background
Vishwanath spent nearly seven years as a product marketer at Nvidia before starting the firm and previously held the same role at a company later bought by Intel. Earlier she worked as a digital signal processing engineer at Interconnect Systems, which was later bought by Molex.
The LEGO era
She noted that a lot of companies and experts have been talking about the ChatGPT moment for robotics, but says the industry is more in a LEGO era. Foundational software and building blocks for robotics are being rethought now, she says, which is important for innovation to scale. Today's work centers on basics such as robotic hands and actuators, which may later combine into larger systems, much like LEGO bricks. Both general-purpose and special-purpose robots are under construction, and she expects them to improve as building continues. She draws parallels to the internet era and the Industrial Revolution and says: “I think it's just a matter of time before things fall into place.”
Talent as the moat
She states that “Talent is also going to be very critical,” and says large companies such as Anthropic and Nvidia are drawing it in. She names helping founders connect with top talent as a moat for her firm: “This just makes it a lot easier for me to be the strength or the first call for founders.” She credits a network built over years of work in the field.
What the article does not say
The article names no specific investments, portfolio companies, fund sizes or funding amounts. The only concrete examples are robotic hands, actuators and the historical analogies.
Source: TechCrunch. This is an AI Business Watch summary of the original interview.