Samwise Tech/AI/Robotics Newsletter
Monday, October 5, 2026
Trump Names Jay Clayton to Lead New Super Intelligence Force
President Donald Trump announced the formation of a Super Intelligence Force in a Sunday post on Truth Social, saying it will coordinate the federal government’s effort to ensure America leads the world in super intelligence. The Wall Street Journal reports that national intelligence director Jay Clayton will chair the task force, with Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, and Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor as vice chairs. The group will reportedly have 120 days to report on AI’s risks and opportunities. Its charter reportedly calls for preventing “overregulation and regulatory capture that would stifle innovation and competition.”
Sources: TechCrunch
Google Pauses Open Source Bug Bounty After Flood of Invalid AI Submissions
Google has paused its Open Source Software Vulnerability Rewards Program, which rewarded researchers for finding flaws in its open source software, blaming a “significant rise” in AI submissions. In posts on X and the program website, Google said the program was paused as of October 1 and promised an update in the first quarter of 2027. “This pause is due to a significant rise in automated submissions, the vast majority of which are not valid,” the company said. Citing Tom’s Hardware, TechCrunch reported that Google engineers and open source maintainers were overwhelmed by reports that were invalid or contained hallucinations. Participants are encouraged to try Google’s other bug bounty programs.
Sources: TechCrunch
Agility Robotics and FORT Formalize Safety Partnership for Digit 5 Humanoid
Agility Robotics and FORT Robotics have formed a partnership to advance the safety infrastructure of Digit 5, Agility’s next-generation humanoid robot engineered for cooperatively safe work at scale. The deal deepens a multi-year engagement into a three-part safety architecture: a safety pendant, on-robot communications, and off-robot interfaces connecting Digit with external safety systems. The pendant gives customers a redundant manual override during setup, maintenance or an unexpected situation. The companies will also work together on joint hardware development, solutions engineering, regulatory compliance and deployment support. Digit 5’s predecessors have logged more than 65,000 hours of operation at customer sites including Schaeffler, GXO and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.
Sources: Robotics & Automation News
Hello Robot Wins Nearly $3 Million NIH Grant to Test Stretch in Dementia Care
Hello Robot has received a Phase IIB Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, totaling nearly $3 million over three years. With research partner the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the company will study how its Stretch mobile manipulator can support older adults with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s dementia across three areas: cognitive assistance, social engagement and safety management. The project will use Stretch 4, introduced in May, and includes participatory design research with 60 older adults, care partners and professional care staff. It began September 22, 2026, and is expected to continue through May 2029.
Sources: Robotics & Automation News
TechCrunch Hosts Doubt Non-Binding White House AI Pact Will Change Much
On TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Anthony Ha, Kirsten Korosec and Sean O’Kane said they were skeptical that the “Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities,” signed by tech executives at a White House gathering hosted by President Donald Trump, will amount to much. O’Kane called the pact “deeply non-binding” and noted that it misspelled the United States, while Trump said he considers it “morally binding.” Trump also signed an executive order under which official U.S. representatives are supposed to say super intelligence, not artificial intelligence. Korosec suggested the meeting’s real significance may have been as “a rebranding effort around AI.” Ha said the need for such a gesture seemed significant.
Sources: TechCrunch
Cyngn Lands Repeat Autonomous Tugger Order From Fortune 100 Manufacturer
Cyngn has received a follow-on order for its DriveMod Tugger from what it calls a “Fortune 100 heavy equipment manufacturer,” expanding an existing relationship. The additional deployment will move components to a heavy-equipment assembly line, a new material-handling application at the customer’s manufacturing facility. The DriveMod Tugger is designed for repetitive material transport in industrial environments and can tow up to 12,000 pounds. Its autonomous navigation lets manufacturers automate suitable routes without installing fixed guidance infrastructure such as magnetic tape or guide wires. Cyngn is withholding the manufacturer’s name for competitive reasons. CEO Lior Tal said automating these movements can help facilities reduce logistics costs and improve material flow.
Sources: Robotics & Automation News
Researchers Turn Garlic Peel Into a Self-Powered Door Sensor
Deepak Bharti of India’s Malaviya National Institute of Technology and Ph.D. candidate Manas Tiwari layered ground garlic peel over polyethylene to build a triboelectric nanogenerator that works as a self-powered sensor, according to results published August 20 in IEEE Sensors Letters. A single layer produced an open-circuit voltage of about 210 volts and a power density of 2.16 W/m²; adding a second garlic layer roughly doubled the output, to about 400 volts. The device maintained its performance after six months of storage and 200 mechanical stress cycles. Built into a door-monitoring system that alerts a smartphone app, it identified door openings with 92 percent accuracy over 50 tests.
Sources: IEEE Spectrum
Tech Pulse
Top Frontier Models: Claude Opus 5 (96% SWE-B V) | Claude Mythos 5 (95.5% SWE-B V) | Claude Fable 5 (95% SWE-B V)
Top Open Source Models: Ornith-1.5-397B (86% SWE-B V) | Ornith-1.0-397B (82.4% SWE-B V) | DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (80.6% SWE-B V)
Top Small Models (15–50B): Ornith-1.5-35B-A3B (79% SWE-B V) | Qwen3.6-27B (77.2% SWE-B V) | Muse Glimmer 30B (76% SWE-B V)
Top Edge Models (0–15B): Ornith-1.5-9B (70.6% SWE-B V) | Ornith-1.0-9B (69.4% SWE-B V) | Granite 4.2 8B (47.7% SWE-B V)
AI Leaders: NVIDIA $5.65T | Alphabet $4.17T | Microsoft $3.84T
Robotics Leaders: Intuitive Surgical ~$141B (late-Sept est.) | Fanuc $35.8B | Symbotic $26.2B
Every newsletter preserved and searchable
Curated by JD · samwise.agency