Why Can't Physical AI Exist Without Eyes? — with Ash Cleary

​Physical AI will not succeed until machines can truly see. To build the next generation of Physical AI – robots that build, heal, protect, and explore – we’ll need a revolution not just in computation but in sensing technologies.

​The next trillion-dollar companies will be born at the intersection of visual sensing, physical data, haptics and intelligent autonomy. That’s why forward-looking capital is already flowing into the technologies that make machines aware: multispectral sensors, vision-first robotics, real-time 3D capture, and synthetic training data. These are not niche subcategories – they are the backbone of the embodied AI revolution.

​Humanoid robotics development faces real tradeoffs - adding sensors increases cost; increasing flexibility reduces durability; more motors mean more complexity and energy consumption. This mechanical challenge – coupled with the perceptual and control loops – is why general-purpose humanoids are being held back from becoming a revolution.

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​Speaker: Ash Cleary — Principal, LDV Capital. Invests in computer vision, visual-tech and AI startups, covering spectroscopy/nanomaterials, renewable-energy forecasting and predictive digital twins for supply chains.