Dell EMC vets lead Seattle startup aiming to automate monotonous tasks

Robots for hire. Three former Dell EMC engineers are behind a Seattle startup called Aivot that is building a fleet of rentable robots to help companies crank out monotonous tasks. Salad chain Evergreens uses Aivot to apply labels on bottles. Read more.

Fresh cash for TipHaus. The Seattle-area startup that streamlines how businesses pool and distribute tips to employees raised $3.5 million.

Tech to help you unplug. Seattle startup Unpluq has created moments of “intentional friction” that are designed to help make the use of addictive apps a conscious choice, and not an automatic behavior. Unpluq CEO Caroline Cadwell shares how it works on the latest episode of the GeekWire Podcast. 

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• One of the most important partnerships in Microsoft’s history started with a chance conversation in 2018 between Satya Nadella and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on a Sun Valley, Idaho, stairwell. That’s one of the tidbits in this extensive profile of Altman. (Wall Street Journal)

• To the moon: NASA introduced the four-person crew of its Artemis II mission that will take astronauts back to the vicinity of the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. (NASA)

• Electric avenues: Proposed legislation in the U.S. would make e-bikes cheaper with a tax credit of up to 30% off — a potential tailwind for startups such as Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes. Meanwhile, voters in Paris who took part in a referendum on rental electric scooters voted to ban the devices from the streets of the French capital. (Axios, New York Times)