Overview
Remote Control AI is a fully online hackathon for anyone interested in building with artificial intelligence. Developers, designers, and AI-curious people can join from anywhere and turn their ideas into working projects. Participants can form a team or work solo, pick a challenge, and build something that uses AI to solve a real problem, automate a tedious task, or simply delight people. No travel or special setup is needed beyond a laptop and creativity.
Who can participate
- Participants must be above the legal age of majority in their country of residence.
- The hackathon is open to students only.
- Companies and professional organizations are excluded.
- It is open to all countries and territories, subject to standard exceptions.
The event is labeled as beginner friendly.
Timeline
The hackathon deadline is listed as November 6, 2026 at 1:00am UTC. The JSON-LD event dates run from October 31, 2026 to November 5, 2026. The requirements section separately asks for project submissions by November 4, 2026 at 5pm PST, so participants should check the official schedule and rules.
Submission requirements
Each project submission on Devpost should include:
- A project name and a one-sentence pitch describing what it does.
- A description of 150 to 300 words covering the problem, the solution, and how AI is used.
- A demo video of 2 to 3 minutes showing the project working, uploaded to YouTube (unlisted is fine) or Loom.
- A source code link, such as a public GitHub repository with a short README explaining how to run it.
- The tech stack, including AI models, APIs, frameworks, and tools used.
- Team information with names and emails of all members (1 to 4 people).
- The challenge track being entered, if applicable.
- Optionally, a live demo link, screenshots, or slides.
Judging criteria
- Creativity: an original idea or a fresh take on a familiar problem.
- Use of AI: AI is central to the project and used thoughtfully.
- Usefulness: the project solves a real problem or delights real users.
- Execution: the project works and the demo is clear.
Prizes and judges
The event offers one non-cash prize: an Amazon gift card for one winner. Judges include Mitchelle Ashley Creado from Microsoft.
Cost and access
Participation is free. The event is organized by avacado and is hosted on Devpost. Questions can be sent to the hackathon manager by email.
