Let’s have a look at how the racers have been doing this week.
AWS DeepRacer
AWS DeepRacer is a 1/18th scale autonomous race car but also much more. It is a complete program that has helped thousands of employees in numerous organizations begin their educational journey into machine learning through fun and rivalry.
Visit AWS DeepRacer page to learn more about how it can help you and your organization begin and progress the journey towards machine learning.
Join the AWS Machine Learning Community to talk to people who have used DeepRacer in their learning experience.
DeepRacer News
Create your customised racer profile and tweak your car’s looks
AWS’ Joe Fontaine has shared new features of the AWS DeepRacer Console in an AWS blog post.
AWS DeepComposer meetup
You can join an online meetup for the AWS Machine Learning Group in NYC to learn about using GANs to generate musical compositions and about how to compete in AWS’ latest Chartbusters challenge. Read more in a separate blog post.
AWS DeepRacer Underground is back
Qualifications have just finished for AWS DeepRacer Underground – live-streamed physical events where you can push the DeepRacer to its limit and get the track manager to fall over trying to save the day and the car. Live race is on the 14th of April. Read more in a separate blog post.
AWS DeepRacer League March Finale
The final race has taken place and Karl-NAB, JJ and DBro have secured their spots in the 2021 AWS DeepRacer League Finals, hopefully to take place physically at AWS re:Invent. While we’re working to prepare a summary of the race you can watch the whole recording on Twitch.
First in-person meetup of 2021
If you’re from Indiana or generally close to Fort Wayne, do join the AWS Hero Alex Schultz for the first in-person DeepRacer meetup of the year on the 28th of April. Read more in a separate blog post.
Pro Division
Race info:
- 59.233 meters long
- 107 centimetres wide
- Head-to-bot format with four bot cars cruising at 1 m/s without lane changes
- Racers are trying to complete three laps
- Each collision and each driving off the track results in a five seconds penalty
- Top 16 go on into a live race which will be streamed on Twitch to fight for places in the League Finals and AWS DeepRacer EVOs
Let’s see the stats for the whole group:
All submissions Update time: 2021-04-11 22:00:00 UTC Comparing to 2021-04-05 22:00:00 UTC Racers: 80 (+21) Total submission attempts: 10526 (+5735) Best total time: 01:00.254 (-00:05.745) by JJ Mean total time: 03:05.828537500 (-00:10.943309958) Best lap: 00:19.421 (-00:02.238) by JJ Mean best lap: 00:55.023925 (-00:02.929261440) Mean average lap: 01:01.942537500 (-00:03.647801483)
Pretty good turnout in the first full week of April racing – already at 80 racers, maybe we’ll get to over 100 active pro racers next week?
I’m pretty impressed with time improvements – while the total mean time is still three times slower than the one of a leader, we can see pretty good time improvements which suggests that racers haven’t just submitted their models to mark their presence and are generally working to improve their times.
Top 20 submissions Update time: 2021-04-11 22:00:00 UTC Comparing to 2021-04-05 22:00:00 UTC Racers: 20 Total submission attempts: 7478 (+3030) Best total time: 01:00.254 (-00:05.745) by JJ Mean total time: 01:41.657250 (-00:25.986900) Best lap: 00:19.421 (-00:02.238) by JJ Mean best lap: 00:30.043450 (-00:07.691700) Mean average lap: 00:33.885350 (-00:08.662400)
Unsurprisingly top 20 are showing the most impressive improvements at the moment. Looks like JJ is aiming at breaking the one minute total next week. I wonder if many racers will join him. It doesn’t change much for him as he has just won his ticket to the finals and will not participate in April’s finale. That said there is another important benefit from such times: a lap time in the area of 20 seconds gives more chances for the finalists in the fight for the finals. March track was much trickier and longer, and any reset was pretty much taking away chances for more than three complete laps in a single run.
Behind JJ we see a much more level competition:
| Rank | Racer | Total Time | Avg Lap | Best Lap | Resets | Submissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (↔0) | JJ | 01:00.254 (-00:05.745) | 00:20.084 (-00:01.915) | 00:19.421 (-00:02.238) | 0 (-0) | 220 (+168) |
| 2 (–) | dartjason | 01:20.801 (–:–.—) | 00:26.933 (–:–.—) | 00:25.103 (–:–.—) | 2 (–) | 29 (–) |
| 3 (⬆9) | Duckworth | 01:22.864 (-00:50.872) | 00:27.621 (-00:16.957) | 00:25.316 (-00:17.369) | 1 (-9) | 12 (+10) |
| 4 (–) | Ernesto | 01:25.169 (–:–.—) | 00:28.389 (–:–.—) | 00:26.065 (–:–.—) | 1 (–) | 206 (–) |
| 5 (–) | RogerRabbit | 01:25.823 (–:–.—) | 00:28.607 (–:–.—) | 00:21.533 (–:–.—) | 4 (–) | 2 (–) |
| 6 (⬇4) | Jochem | 01:26.674 (-00:00.000) | 00:28.891 (-00:00.000) | 00:24.712 (-00:00.000) | 2 (-0) | 231 (+6) |
| 7 (⬇2) | AJM-Model-1 | 01:26.855 (-00:25.187) | 00:28.951 (-00:08.396) | 00:22.922 (-00:09.772) | 3 (-2) | 747 (+736) |
| 8 (⬇5) | Rober | 01:34.951 (-00:00.000) | 00:31.650 (-00:00.000) | 00:28.113 (-00:00.000) | 2 (-0) | 9 (+1) |
| 9 (⬇5) | kimmizian | 01:36.861 (-00:00.000) | 00:32.287 (-00:00.000) | 00:31.466 (-00:00.000) | 0 (-0) | 1510 (+619) |
| 10 (⬇3) | PolishThunder | 01:42.617 (-00:14.861) | 00:34.205 (-00:04.954) | 00:32.160 (+00:02.949) | 4 (-4) | 2205 (+1219) |
| 11 (⬆13) | nalbam-me | 01:44.218 (-01:17.129) | 00:34.739 (-00:25.710) | 00:34.412 (-00:11.234) | 3 (-14) | 419 (+398) |
| 12 (⬇6) | SorinB | 01:46.969 (-00:09.828) | 00:35.656 (-00:03.276) | 00:32.808 (-00:00.456) | 2 (-1) | 95 (+84) |
| 13 (–) | GregRacing | 01:52.442 (–:–.—) | 00:37.480 (–:–.—) | 00:31.205 (–:–.—) | 3 (–) | 4 (–) |
| 14 (⬆20) | S-P- | 01:52.697 (-01:17.297) | 00:37.565 (-00:25.766) | 00:30.109 (-00:31.404) | 5 (-11) | 12 (+10) |
| 15 (–) | nero-DNPds | 01:59.232 (–:–.—) | 00:39.744 (–:–.—) | 00:33.972 (–:–.—) | 3 (–) | 104 (–) |
| 16 (⬇8) | atnmn | 01:59.835 (-00:00.000) | 00:39.945 (-00:00.000) | 00:33.815 (-00:00.000) | 6 (-0) | 46 (-0) |
| 17 (⬆41) | AIDeepRacer | 02:02.186 (-03:50.580) | 00:40.728 (-01:16.860) | 00:37.821 (-01:07.378) | 7 (-45) | 35 (+31) |
| 18 (⬆1) | ABaykov | 02:02.937 (-00:40.653) | 00:40.979 (-00:13.551) | 00:35.470 (-00:10.718) | 6 (-8) | 76 (+67) |
| 19 (⬇10) | kimwooglae | 02:04.860 (-00:00.000) | 00:41.620 (-00:00.000) | 00:37.493 (-00:00.000) | 8 (-0) | 1450 (+665) |
| 20 (⬇10) | Maikel | 02:04.900 (-00:00.000) | 00:41.633 (-00:00.000) | 00:36.953 (-00:00.000) | 9 (-0) | 66 (+1) |
Five of the top 20 racers have only started racing this week. Nine of them took part in the finale in March. Most of that group have been relatively calm this week but now I am expecting to see more competitive racing from them.
Some of the racers have had some insane time improvements and many have been very active with their submissions. That can however be a trap: as Ryan and Blaine said in the March finale, having many submissions will guarantee that you squeeze a lot of potential from your models but in the finale you have two time slots of three minutes – if your model’s average performance is not strong enough you can easily perish.
I’m really pleased to see GregRacing in the 13th. This racer is the only person in this week’s top 20 which qualified from the Open Division. This is likely to change since we haven’t seen the NYCU students just yet.
Open Division
Race info:
- 41.551 meters long
- 107 centimetres wide
- Simpler and shorter than the pro track but still pretty challenging with a variety of straights and turns
- Time Trial format
- Competitors need to complete three laps and total time counts for their classification
- Each off-track results in five seconds penalty.
- Racers fight for qualification to the Pro group which is won by the top 10%
- They will also receive a Pro Welcoming Kit which is a bit of a mystery (We will hopefully know soon as the prize notifications have been sent out for the March races)
Let’s take a look at the overall stats:
All submissions Update time: 2021-04-11 22:00:00 UTC Comparing to 2021-04-05 22:00:00 UTC Racers: 364 (+244) Total submission attempts: 1909 (+1241) Best total time: 01:22.404 (-00:09.652) by BestGTR Mean total time: 04:09.314074176 (+00:19.374949176) Best lap: 00:26.209 by egRacer Mean best lap: 01:15.657458791 (+00:05.258342125) Mean average lap: 01:23.104346154 (+00:06.458287821)
The number of racers has tripled which means the new racers influx is still steady. Mean total time has increased which is rather normal in the open division in the first weeks. It’s less than three times slower than the leading time but I expect this gap to increase for two reasons: new racers will keep showing up which usually means relatively slow times in the standings, and the best time is at 1:22 while the best time in the Pro Division (on a larger track, with obstacles) is likely to fall below one minute next week – there is lots of room for improvement.
Top 20 submissions Update time: 2021-04-11 22:00:00 UTC Comparing to 2021-04-05 22:00:00 UTC Racers: 20 Total submission attempts: 479 (+149) Best total time: 01:22.404 (-00:09.652) by BestGTR Mean total time: 01:48.500350 (-00:31.053700) Best lap: 00:26.209 by egRacer Mean best lap: 00:32.930550 (-00:09.758600) Mean average lap: 00:36.166300 (-00:10.351400)
In the top 20 we can see significant time improvements and a new leader but interestingly the best lap still belongs to egRacer. This is likely to change next week – either egRacer will improve and lower the best lap or this statistic will list someone else for a simple reason: the average lap for the best time is just over 27 seconds and I don’t think it will remain at this level in the next update.
Now time for some exciting updates in the standings:
| Rank | Racer | Total Time | Avg Lap | Best Lap | Resets | Submissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (–) | BestGTR | 01:22.404 (–:–.—) | 00:27.468 (–:–.—) | 00:27.006 (–:–.—) | 0 (–) | 72 (–) |
| 2 (–) | kim | 01:22.952 (–:–.—) | 00:27.650 (–:–.—) | 00:27.343 (–:–.—) | 0 (–) | 1 (–) |
| 3 (⬇2) | test0123 | 01:24.532 (-00:07.524) | 00:28.177 (-00:02.508) | 00:27.197 (-00:01.070) | 0 (-1) | 38 (+33) |
| 4 (⬇2) | badger | 01:30.378 (-00:05.265) | 00:30.126 (-00:01.755) | 00:29.892 (+00:02.352) | 3 (+1) | 129 (+39) |
| 5 (⬇2) | egRacer | 01:38.186 (-00:00.000) | 00:32.728 (-00:00.000) | 00:26.209 (-00:00.000) | 3 (-0) | 92 (+2) |
| 6 (–) | Georgio | 01:45.059 (–:–.—) | 00:35.019 (–:–.—) | 00:34.267 (–:–.—) | 3 (–) | 12 (–) |
| 7 (–) | AS | 01:45.083 (–:–.—) | 00:35.027 (–:–.—) | 00:33.147 (–:–.—) | 1 (–) | 11 (–) |
| 8 (–) | SCH-ZARIF-ZA | 01:46.175 (–:–.—) | 00:35.391 (–:–.—) | 00:32.734 (–:–.—) | 1 (–) | 33 (–) |
| 9 (–) | Kairos | 01:50.053 (–:–.—) | 00:36.684 (–:–.—) | 00:28.850 (–:–.—) | 4 (–) | 18 (–) |
| 10 (⬆17) | Awaken | 01:51.031 (-01:05.555) | 00:37.010 (-00:21.852) | 00:36.518 (-00:14.878) | 0 (-13) | 6 (+4) |
| 11 (–) | DaNangCoLen | 01:54.311 (–:–.—) | 00:38.103 (–:–.—) | 00:34.198 (–:–.—) | 8 (–) | 2 (–) |
| 12 (–) | m | 01:55.442 (–:–.—) | 00:38.480 (–:–.—) | 00:33.518 (–:–.—) | 6 (–) | 7 (–) |
| 13 (–) | MING-CHUN | 01:55.694 (–:–.—) | 00:38.564 (–:–.—) | 00:34.330 (–:–.—) | 3 (–) | 1 (–) |
| 14 (⬇10) | LuckyMan | 01:56.644 (-00:00.000) | 00:38.881 (-00:00.000) | 00:31.348 (-00:00.000) | 7 (-0) | 7 (-0) |
| 15 (⬇10) | DR-1 | 01:58.630 (-00:00.000) | 00:39.543 (-00:00.000) | 00:39.201 (-00:00.000) | 6 (-0) | 3 (-0) |
| 16 (–) | nine9 | 01:59.816 (–:–.—) | 00:39.938 (–:–.—) | 00:39.732 (–:–.—) | 3 (–) | 6 (–) |
| 17 (–) | alexk | 02:00.548 (–:–.—) | 00:40.182 (–:–.—) | 00:39.921 (–:–.—) | 0 (–) | 21 (–) |
| 18 (⬇12) | Vinay17 | 02:01.045 (-00:00.000) | 00:40.348 (-00:00.000) | 00:34.336 (-00:00.000) | 9 (-0) | 15 (-0) |
| 19 (–) | HaNoiChienThang | 02:05.479 (–:–.—) | 00:41.826 (–:–.—) | 00:34.263 (–:–.—) | 10 (–) | 3 (–) |
| 20 (–) | CuBinh-VNN | 02:06.545 (–:–.—) | 00:42.181 (–:–.—) | 00:34.601 (–:–.—) | 10 (–) | 2 (–) |
Thirteen racers out of top twenty have joined the league this week. Pretty impressive. This involves BestGTR, current leader.
With 36 places qualifying to the Pro Division (top 10%), Manna-Sonali-A603818-V1 is currently the last racer to qualify with time of 2:30.448. In March this time was improving as the race progressed and I’m expecting the same for this month.
Later this week we can expect a report from the March Finale so be sure to come back for more updates.