BETA Hackathon 2026 is an 8-hour build sprint bringing together 200+ of the Bay Area's top developers, researchers, and entrepreneurs to build at the frontier of AI.

Hosted by BETA (Berkeley Emerging Technology Association), the premier venture and technology community founded by students from UC Berkeley and Stanford, this hackathon challenges builders to ship real products across four tracks — from autonomous agents to voice-powered apps to real robotic hardware.

📖 Hacker Handbook is Live — You Can Start Building Now

We've put together a full handbook covering tracks, judging criteria, prize details, schedule, submission guidelines, and FAQs.

👉 [Handbook]

Good news: you don't have to wait until Day 1. Pre-event ideation, research, and prototyping are fully encouraged. Read through the tracks, lock in your team, and start building now

Event Highlights

Keynote presentations from industry leaders
Hands-on workshops and technical deep-dives
Live demo showcase with audience voting
$60,000+ in prizes and ecosystem incubation resources
- (including $50,000 AWS credit)
Developer networking and after party

Track 1 — AI Native × New Species：This isn’t about using AI as a tool to improve existing products. It’s about inventing entirely new forms of experience—things that blur the line between content, product, interaction, and even identity. In this track, AI is not just a tool. It is a co-creator—and together, you are building a new species.Build something that couldn’t exist before AI, and let it take on a life of its own.

Track 2 — Voice & Vision Build interactive AI avatars and real-time conversational experiences. Create embodied agents, speech-to-action interfaces, and voice-powered applications where AI personas see, hear, and react to users in real-time.

Track 3 — Robotics Build embodied AI agents that control real robotic hardware via natural language. Language-guided pick-and-place, multi-step task planners, and vision-based grasping agents.

Track 4 — Crypto & Agents Build AI agent applications that serve decentralized organizations and public goods ecosystems. Focus areas include DAO governance, fund allocation, impact evaluation, organizational workflow optimization, and AI safety & trust. Projects built on open-source agent frameworks such as OpenClaw are preferred. We value technical completeness, real-world utility, and open-source contribution.

Join our Discord to find teammates, get tech support, and stay updated: https://discord.gg/rPMaxEJRRw

All participants must join before the event. This is where we'll share workshop materials, sponsor resources, and team matching channels.

Questions or partnership inquiries? 📩beta.ucberkeley@gmail.com

BETA 2026Hackathon - Open Registration