Questions and answers

No. Any student aged 7–24 on Sat 16 Jan 2027 who studies full-time in Singapore can join, at a local or international school, JC, IB, polytechnic, ITE, university or other institution, of any nationality. Aged 18–24 and not studying right now? You can join if you finished school, JC, IB, polytechnic or ITE in Singapore in 2026, if you have a place at a Singapore institution starting in 2027, or if you're serving full-time NS (NSF).

Divisions go by age on Sat 16 Jan 2027, not school year: Primary 7–12, Secondary 13–17, University 18–24. So most students in P6 this year are in Primary, and JC1, poly and ITE students aged 17 are in Secondary. Use the calculator on the home page. A team plays in the division of its oldest member. Siblings can team up across two neighbouring divisions: a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old play in Secondary. A sibling aged 13–17 can also team up with an older sibling aged 18–24 in University, with a parent's OK, if the younger one is at least 13 when the team registers.

S$68 per student covers the resource pack, screening and judging, Demo Weekend entry, student lunch and certificates, whether or not your child's team is a finalist. There's no other entry fee. You won't need to buy kits or paid tools; free tools can score full marks. Transport, your own devices and lunch for accompanying adults aren't included.

About 15 places are free for students who need financial support. Tick "apply for a fee-waiver place" when registering, then upload proof of school financial assistance or a short teacher's note through a private link. No bank statements. Two staff members review it privately, and judges and partners are never told. Your registration stays open while we review, and your team's challenge unlocks once every confirmation is in, without waiting for the result. Fee-waiver places are open to every division, including University.

The team representative pays for the whole team within 3 days of registering; near the end, the deadline is Sat 2 Jan 2027, 23:59 SGT, if that's earlier. Your exact deadline is in your email. If payment isn't made in time, the registration lapses and nothing is charged. You're welcome to register again any time before Sat 2 Jan 2027, 23:59 SGT; there's no cap on places.

If a student withdraws, the fee isn't refunded. If we cancel the event, you get a full refund, and your child's project stays theirs. If we postpone it, you can keep your place or take a full refund. Refunds are limited to the fee paid, and we aim to process them within 14 days of receiving what we need. Not being chosen as a finalist isn't a refund case: the fee covers screening, Demo Weekend entry, lunch and certificates for every student. Full details are on the Refunds page.

On Fri 4 Dec we check whether the event conditions are met, including the number of confirmed students, and we email every registered team either way. If they aren't met, we'll postpone or cancel. If we cancel, you get a full refund; if we postpone, you can keep your place or take a full refund.

You can teach tools, explain ideas and help troubleshoot. The idea, the decisions and the presentation must be your child's. For under-13s, you may type or operate a tool as your child directs, where the tool's rules allow it, but you can't use your own account on a 13+ or 18+ AI tool (such as ChatGPT) to do AI work for them. Please write down all help in the process log. It's not a penalty; it helps judges see your child's own work.

Staff, judges and volunteers sign a code of conduct, and none of them is ever placed alone with a child in a closed room. Children aged 12 or under have a lead adult present, with sign-in, sign-out and authorised pick-up each day. You can also come as the accompanying adult. The University division has participants aged 18–24. Adult participants follow the Code of Conduct's rules for adults, and under-18s and adults team up only in the ways set out in rule 4.

Yes. As set out in the participation agreement, event photos and video, including presentations, may be used on YAI's and YCESS's own channels to show and promote YAI. We never publish birthdays, contact details or other personal data with them. If you have a concern, email admin@ycess.com before the event. On the day, you can ask for a red lanyard at check-in and our photographers will avoid featuring your child.

Your child and their team. YCESS only gets a non-exclusive right to show and promote the project for YAI. We never pass it to partners for commercial use or AI training. Any third-party material keeps its own licence.

No. We never give student or parent lists, or referral data, to partners. If a partner has a booth at Demo Weekend, whether you leave your details there is entirely up to you.

If your team is chosen as a finalist, you'll present on Finals Day, Sat 16 Jan, so please keep that day free. If a finalist team can't come, email us early: the project can still be shown online but won't be ranked, and certificates are still sent. If your team isn't a finalist, coming is up to you; just answer the RSVP. Withdrawals aren't refunded.

We don't promise any admissions outcome, scholarship, official certification or entry to other competitions. Certificates record what your child did; how any school treats them is up to that school. What your child gets is a project they made themselves and the experience of explaining it.

No. A laptop, tablet or phone, paper, cardboard and free tools are enough. On-screen and simulated projects are judged the same as physical ones, and judges don't score device price or the number of tools.

No. Students build at their own pace during the season, at home or at school. Demo Weekend is two daytime days, and there's no building on the day.

Yes. Each student may bring one accompanying adult, who sits in the audience and can't answer for the student. Lunch is provided for students only, so please bring or buy your own.

Not every team. Registration has no cap, so we choose finalists: after an online screening from 10 to 12 Jan, 3–5 finalist teams per track in each division present live on Sat 16 Jan. We can't know in advance how many teams will take part, so we can't promise any team a place in the finals. Whatever the result, every valid submission receives a certificate, every participant is welcome at Demo Weekend, and every team may exhibit its project on Sunday.

Yes, please come. Every participant is welcome at Demo Weekend: watch the finals on Saturday, then on Sunday show your project at a table or on a poster, visit other teams, vote for Community Choice and join the awards. Each student may bring one accompanying adult, and lunch is provided for students. Just answer the RSVP we email on Wed 13 Jan by Thu 14 Jan, 23:59 SGT, and sign up to exhibit there.

Yes. Every challenge can be done well in one week, and judges score the quality of the thinking and making, not the size of the project or the hours spent. There's no bonus for joining early and no extension for joining late: every team has the same deadline, Sat 9 Jan. Your full brief includes a two-week plan and a 7-day plan.

The four quests (titles, short descriptions and Boss Checks) and the judging criteria are public from Mon 19 Oct. Your team's full challenge for its track and division, a starter card and the resource pack arrive by email once your place is confirmed: the fee is paid and every confirmation is in (a parent or guardian for each member under 21). We send it as soon as the last step is done. Please don't post the full brief publicly.

Yes. A whole team can choose to play one division up: a Primary team in Secondary, or a Secondary team in University if every member is 16 or over on Sat 16 Jan 2027. Nobody plays down. Your child keeps every protection for their own age: a lead adult for ages 12 and under, a parent's confirmation, and tools allowed for their actual age. Playing up earns no extra marks: judges score the project against that division's requirements, with no bonus or penalty for being younger.

Only if every under-18 member was born within two years of every adult member, for example JC or poly schoolmates, or if they're family, such as siblings or cousins. For this rule, under 18 means under 18 on Mon 19 Oct 2026. The under-18 member's parent sees the adult teammates' display names and ages and agrees to them separately, and adult members follow the Code of Conduct's rules for adult participants. An adult member can't register the team or pay for it. Full details are in rule 4.

Yes. No quest requires typed code: free, no-account tools and block coding can earn full marks, and a Robotics sidekick can be an on-screen robot. Judges don't score lines of code. Creativity counts most, at 30%.

Yes and yes. Teams have 1–4 members and play in the division of their oldest member. Solo teams are judged on how they organised the work, with no penalty for not having teammates.

Team up with friends, classmates or your CCA. We don't match teams, and for safety we don't run a public "find a teammate" board. You can always join solo.

The four quests are public from Mon 19 Oct on the Quests page. Your full challenge, with your division's requirements, arrives by email once your place is confirmed.

You can change track once, until Sat 2 Jan 2027, 23:59 SGT, using the link in your confirmation email; we'll send you the new track's challenge. Until then, you can also swap or add a teammate (adding one needs payment), as long as the team still fits the rules, and change division once, never below your oldest member's division. After that, your division is fixed, members can leave if they really need to, but no one new can join, and tracks can't be changed.

Any tool that's allowed for your age under its own terms, going by your actual age on the day you use it. Many chat-style AI tools are for ages 13+, some 18+, and under-18s often need a parent's permission. Your division doesn't change this. Your full brief lists recommended tools for your age. Under-13s use no-account or teacher- or school-managed tools.

AI can help, if the tool is allowed for your age and you credit it. But AI must do a real job inside your finished project, and using AI only to write your code or your intro doesn't count as that job. Judges will ask you to explain your key decisions and how things work (25% of the score), so make sure you understand and choose what goes in.

You can start from Mon 19 Oct, when the quests go public, even before you register: start your process log on day one. Work made before 19 Oct doesn't count, and neither does a project entered in another competition.

Your project or a demo judges can open, a short intro and a dated process log (at least 3 entries for Primary, 4 for Secondary and 5 for University). Write in English; simple English is fine. No public video and no public code needed. The submission form opens in early December; you can submit more than once, and we use your last submission before Sat 9 Jan, 23:59 SGT.

On Finals Day, Sat 16 Jan: Primary teams talk for 5 minutes, Secondary for 7 and University for 10, then answer 3 minutes of questions. Every teammate gets a turn to speak, and you decide how to split the talk. Judges ask friendly questions about what you did, your choices and your testing, and won't push anyone to answer beyond their own part.

English is the main language, and Chinese is welcome for both the talk and Q&A. Bilingual judges will be there. Nobody loses marks for their accent or language choice. Your written intro and log should be in English.

Please put your exams first. Registration is open until Sat 2 Jan 2027 and the build runs until Sat 9 Jan, so you can join after your papers. Every challenge can be done well in one week.

In each division, the Champion, 1st Runner-up and 2nd Runner-up are chosen from the finalists (fewer places if a division has fewer than five finalist teams). Trophies and cash prizes; amounts announced once funded. There's also a Community Choice Award in each division, voted in the room on Sunday. Every valid submission receives a certificate: a participation certificate for each member, a finalist certificate for finalists and an award certificate for winners.

We don't write individual or team feedback, and screening scores aren't shared. All five judging criteria are public, so you can check your own work, and for finalists, answering the judges' questions on the day is part of the experience.

From Sun 10 to Tue 12 Jan, at least two reviewers score every valid submission online, each on their own, using the same five published criteria as the finals. If their totals differ by 20 points or more, a third reviewer scores it too. Reviewers come from our academic committee, our judges, and vetted teachers and industry reviewers, and they step aside from any team they know. Then 3–5 finalist teams per track in each division are chosen. The academic committee signs off the list.

At 09:00 SGT on Wed 13 Jan, every team gets an email, finalist or not, and every family gets a Demo Weekend RSVP at 12:00 SGT. Finalists confirm by Thu 14 Jan, 23:59 SGT. The finalist list goes out by email only; we don't post it on the website.

Try Spin for a track on the registration page. It picks one of the four at random, just for fun: keep it or choose yourself. Once you confirm, it's your choice, and you can still change track once, until Sat 2 Jan 2027.

Until 21, yes: for this season, a parent or guardian confirms for every participant under 21. From 21, you confirm your own place.

Yes, if you're 18–24 on Sat 16 Jan 2027 and you finished school, JC, IB, polytechnic or ITE in Singapore in 2026, you have a place at a Singapore institution starting in 2027, or you're serving full-time NS (NSF). Tell us your school and when you finished, or where you'll start. If you enlist in early January, please check that you can come to Demo Weekend. This season is for students, so if you're working full-time and not studying, or you've already graduated from university, we hope to see you in another programme. Master's and PhD students can't take part this season.

The quests aren't. All three divisions get the same four quests and are judged on the same five criteria. Your full challenge sets what's expected in your division, and University teams are expected to go furthest. It arrives by email once your place is confirmed. University registration opens on Mon 19 Oct, with everyone else. More on the University page.

Yes, if you make it during the build window (Mon 19 Oct 2026 – Sat 9 Jan 2027), say so in your project intro, and your course allows the work to be entered in an outside competition. Work for an employer or a paying client doesn't count, and neither does work owned by a supervisor, lab or employer. Lecturers, tutors and mentors count as helpers: write their help in your process log.

No. YAI is an out-of-school programme organised by YCESS. Families register and pay for their own teams. Schools can simply share the information if they wish.

Yes. Every team with a member aged 12 or under on Sat 16 Jan 2027 has a lead adult, whatever its division: a teacher or parent aged 21 or over who isn't taking part this season. A lead adult registers the team, looks after safety, comes to Demo Weekend and arranges pick-up. One teacher may lead more than one team, as long as they can be there for all of them.

The same as parents: teach tools, explain ideas, help troubleshoot. The ideas, decisions and presentation are the students'. Each team's project must be its own; don't pass one team's idea or code to another. Help should be written in the process log. If you also review or judge for YAI, you'll step aside from teams you know.

Yes. Each team has 1–4 members and plays in the division of its oldest member, or one division up. Cross-school teams are welcome. Each student can only be on one team. Students under 18 and adults team up only as set out in rule 4.

Fees are usually paid by each team's representative. If your school would like to cover fees for its teams, please email support@ycess.com before registering. Students who need financial support can apply for a fee-waiver place with a teacher's note.

The build window runs from Mon 19 Oct 2026 to Sat 9 Jan 2027. For MOE primary and secondary schools, the main build time falls in the year-end holidays (21 Nov – 31 Dec; for JC1 students, from 28 Nov). Term 1 starts on Mon 4 Jan, the week before the deadline, so we suggest teams finish during the holidays. Demo Weekend is the second weekend of term. Students sitting O- or A-Level exams should put their exams first. Polytechnic, ITE and university students: please check your own exam and term dates.

Yes. Email support@ycess.com and we'll send an A3 poster with a QR code for your school, in English or Chinese, and a short message for class groups. We don't need any student data from schools.

We'd be glad to hear from you. Judges come from education, AI technology and creative fields; live judging is a full day on Sat 16 Jan, and screening reviewers score online between 10 and 12 Jan. Everyone steps aside from teams they have a connection with. Email partner@ycess.com with "Judging" in the subject line and a short note about your background.

Yes, if they tell us when they register. You'll step aside from anything to do with their team. People who can see unpublished challenges or scores (YAI staff, interns and volunteers, judges and screening reviewers) can't take part themselves.

No. Cards are off unless you switch them on, aren't listed or searchable, and you can switch yours off anytime. All cards are deleted on 30 Apr 2027.

No. Under-18s use a nickname. Cards never show photos, real names, schools or contact details, and a real person checks every card before it goes live.

Children aged 12 and under don't have their own code. Parents can get a Family code. Children aged 12 and under never see points and are never listed or ranked.

There's no running ranking. Ambassadors who opt in are listed by level, in alphabetical order, in the Ambassador Hall.

No. They have nothing to do with judging, finalist selection or the judged awards, and they have no cash value.

No. Every reward is earned by reaching a level, and nothing is left to luck.

It's voted in the room on Showcase & Awards Day, Sun 17 Jan, by checked-in participants and one accompanying adult each. Every voting badge has three stars, one per project, and you can't vote for your own team. There's no online voting. Full rules are on the Demo Weekend page.

An optional bonus for sharing your build. Public posts tagged #YAISG and your team's own tag, posted by Sat 9 Jan 2027, 23:59 SGT, can count. At Sun 10 Jan 2027, 12:00 SGT, we take the likes on each team's single best post; in each division, the five teams with the most likes get +5, +4, +3, +2 and +1 points on their screening score. Screening reviewers don't see the bonus, and it doesn't carry into Finals Day. Full rules are on the Judging page.

#YAISG plus your team's own tag, like #YourTeamName. Your team name is your tag, so it needs letters and numbers only, with no spaces. Tagging @yaisingapore is welcome. Tagging a partner is welcome too, but it's never required and earns no points.

No. Posting is optional, and nobody has to post; teams that don't post are judged exactly the same on the five criteria. Under-13s don't post from their own accounts: a parent or the school can post for the team. No faces of under-13s without a parent's OK, and never school names, full names or locations. See Share your build.

Yes: a team member aged 13 or over, family, friends, your school or CCA, or anyone else who likes your project, however many followers they have. Paying anyone to post, buying likes, bots and like-for-like groups aren't allowed, and a team found using them loses the bonus.