01
Research Radar
Mapping the Evolution of Scientific Knowledge
- Guiding question
- How is a research field changing?
- Main result
- A temporal map of the literature
Ctrl+Alt Museum, Pavia
GrokHackathonat the Museum
“Some of you were at the Café Cursor evenings in Milano. This one is a bit different.”
Currently full: the waitlist is open.
Registration closes on October 31 (23:59, Rome time).
Register a team and share its secret code, or join a team with a code from a teammate. On your own? Register as looking for a team. Registering a team gives priority for participation confirmation.
How teams workHosted by SpaceXAI for Milan, Italy
The brief
Hardware + API + Grok
Pick a piece of hardware, an API, connect it to Grok (the API, Grok Voice, or the bot framework), and by Thursday afternoon show something that didn't work when you started.
You can use
- Grok APIGrok 4.7 for chat, reasoning and code, with function calling and structured outputs.(opens in a new tab)
- Search and code toolsWeb search, X search, code execution and search over your own documents, built into the API.(opens in a new tab)
- Grok VoiceReal-time speech-to-speech agents, text to speech and speech to text.(opens in a new tab)
- Grok ImagineGenerate and edit images and videos from text.(opens in a new tab)
- Grok BuildA coding agent for your terminal, also usable in scripts and from editors.(opens in a new tab)
- Grok BotAI teammates with their own computer that work across your apps.(opens in a new tab)
- CursorA coding agent for the desktop and the terminal, with parallel cloud agents and Grok 4.7 among its models.(opens in a new tab)
Challenges
Proposed Tracks
Proposed
From prototypes that answer questions to systems that collect evidence, measure results and make changes explainable. The three tracks are independent but share one principle: every insight must be verifiable.
This is the first set of proposed tracks. They may be refined before the event.
02
GitHub Benchmark Arena
Continuous Evaluation of Emerging Open-Source Tools
- Guiding question
- Which new tools actually work?
- Main result
- A continuous benchmark and a leaderboard
03
Agent Failure Lab
Understanding Why AI Agents Fail
- Guiding question
- Why does an agent fail, and how can it be improved?
- Main result
- Diagnosis, replay and verification of fixes
View the full brief
Reproducibility · Evidence first · Human in the loop · Security by design · Realistic scope
Hardware
What you get to hack on
- A robotic dog
- A flight simulator
- A robotic arm
- A driving simulator
And also: A few drones
Real access, not a demo behind a rope. Museum staff handle the hardware side and support builders.
Schedule
Two days, one night
- Kick-offHardware tour, find a team, start building.
- Ctrl+Alt Ecosystem presentationInvitation only
- OvernightHacking continues through the nightThe museum stays open to participants.
- Talk by Nick Miller (SpaceXAI)Grok models, API, Grok Voice, Grok Bots.
- –Build, with Nick at the tables
- –Project evaluation and pitches
- Awards ceremony
All times are Rome time (CET).
Speaker
With us on Thursday
Photo
Nick Miller
SpaceXAI team
Joins on Thursday: opens the day with a talk on the models and the API, then stays with builders at the tables.
Teams
Three ways to take part
- 1
Register a team
Sign in, create your team (name and a short description) and you immediately get its secret code. It stays visible to every member on your dashboard. Share it with the people you want: a team has 4 to 6 members.
- 2
Join a team
Got a code from a teammate? Sign in, choose Join a team and enter it. If the code is wrong, no longer active, or the team is full, you get a clear message.
- 3
I'm looking for a team
On your own? Mark yourself as looking for a team and add how to reach you. Teams with room can see your name, profile and note, and send you their code.
The rules
- 01
Sign in with your Luma email
Use the same email you used to register on Luma. Only guests the organisers have approved on Luma can sign in (not waitlist or pending); we send a one-time code to that address.
- 02
Register a team, join one, or look for one
Register a team and get its secret code, join a team by entering the code a teammate shares with you, or register as looking for a team so teams with room can find you. Registering a team gives priority for participation confirmation.
- 03
Teams of 4 to 6
A team needs at least 4 people to count as formed. At 6 members it closes automatically and the code stops working; if someone leaves, it opens again.
- 04
One team at a time, and you can leave
You can be in one team only. You can leave whenever you want before the lock. If the person who created the team leaves, the earliest-joined member takes over; a team with nobody left is removed.
- 05
Teams lock on 31 October 2026 at 23:59 (Rome time)
This is also the end of registration. After that moment nobody can register, join or leave a team. Sort out your team before then.
- 06
Guaranteed seats for teams of 4+
When teams lock, every member of a team with 4 or more people has a guaranteed seat. Everyone else (smaller teams, solo, available) gets the remaining seats, up to 100 in total, first come, first served by Luma registration time.
Prizes
Prizes for the best builds
Winners are announced at the awards ceremony on Thursday evening.
1st place
Prize to be announced
2nd place
Prize to be announced
3rd place
Prize to be announced
Jury
Who judges the projects
Luca Bianchi
Lorenzo Cerri
Alessandro Rano
Alberto Giusti
Claudio Peroni
To be announced
Role · Organization
Short bio to be announced.
Evaluation criteria
To be announced
We will publish this here and on Luma.
Practical info
Before you come
- Teams of 4 to 6 (see how teams work below).
- Bring your laptop.
- API credits provided.
- Capacity capped at 100.
- Registration on Luma, by approval.
Currently full: the waitlist is open.
Venue
At the museum
Ctrl+Alt Museum logo
comPVter logo
Ctrl+Alt Museum
A retro computing museum run by comPVter, a nonprofit.
Via Riviera, 39, 27100 Pavia PV, ItalyGetting there
- 200 m from Pavia train station.
- About 25 minutes by train from Milano Rogoredo.
- On Wednesday night the museum stays open to participants.
Right after
Startup Weekend Milano–Pavia
Startup Weekend logo
Startup Weekend Milano–Pavia starts the morning after the awards (November 6) and runs through November 8. You can do both.
Startup Weekend page: link coming soon
With the support of
Sponsors
Organized by
Become a sponsor
Interested in supporting the builders at the museum? Get in touch with the organizers.
Sponsorship contact to be announced.
Event page on Luma(opens in a new tab)Hosts
The people behind it
- PhotoLuca Bianchi
- PhotoFederico Pellegrini
- PhotoMarco D'Angelo