Join me as I look at the first two weeks of racing in May’s AWS DeepRacer League.
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
DeepRacer Open-Sourced
AWS DeepRacer car software is now open source. This means you can learn more than before about how the car software is working but not only that: you can also modify it to build your own project on top of the device, not just race! You can see the code in DeepRacer repo on GitHub.
On top of all that you can also purchase new accessories for your car. Sample projects include works by Community’s Chris Miller, Jochem Lugtenburg and Martin Paradesi. Read more about them on the AWS DeepRacer Robotics Project Page.
DeepRacer Underground
If you’ve missed the last AWS DeepRacer Underground, go to Twitch to view the replay.
Pro Division
Race info:
- Track named after Kuei-NCTU-CGI from Taiwan who finished third in 2021 DeepRacer Championship
- 60.74 meters long
- 107 centimeters 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 start with the general summary:
All submissions Update time: 2021-05-17 21:00:00 UTC Racers: 105 Total submission attempts: 18820 Best total time: 01:04.678 by JJ Mean total time: 03:51.427666667 Best lap: 00:21.080 by JJ Mean best lap: 01:06.850771429 Mean average lap: 01:17.142247619
Unsurprisingly JJ is leading the way. We’re already at over 100 racers which makes sense taken into account that we are nearing 300 Pro racers. It’s a bit more interesting in the top 20:
Top 20 submissions Update time: 2021-05-17 21:00:00 UTC Racers: 20 Total submission attempts: 16975 Best total time: 01:04.678 by JJ Mean total time: 01:43.697800 Best lap: 00:21.080 by JJ Mean best lap: 00:31.942900 Mean average lap: 00:34.565650
The mean total time is quite behind JJ. I’m actually quite surprised that there still are times over two minutes in top 20. We’ve got three finalists in the top 20 so it still shows everyone who is in the finale zone, but if they keep racing I might need to expand to top 30 next time.
Let’s see the top 20:
| Rank | Racer | Total Time | Avg Lap | Best Lap | Resets | Submissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JJ | 01:04.678 | 00:21.559 | 00:21.080 | 0 | 1185 |
| 2 | Karl-NAB | 01:04.990 | 00:21.663 | 00:21.310 | 0 | 1792 |
| 3 | dartjason | 01:14.817 | 00:24.939 | 00:24.529 | 0 | 761 |
| 4 | rosscomp1 | 01:16.213 | 00:25.404 | 00:24.179 | 0 | 864 |
| 5 | Duckworth | 01:17.497 | 00:25.832 | 00:25.006 | 0 | 316 |
| 6 | Ernesto | 01:18.804 | 00:26.268 | 00:24.982 | 0 | 165 |
| 7 | Jochem | 01:20.221 | 00:26.740 | 00:24.491 | 1 | 8 |
| 8 | Matt | 01:23.362 | 00:27.787 | 00:27.196 | 0 | 724 |
| 9 | alexj | 01:40.634 | 00:33.544 | 00:32.424 | 0 | 28 |
| 10 | PolishThunder | 01:49.222 | 00:36.407 | 00:30.706 | 5 | 2652 |
| 11 | SorinB | 01:52.120 | 00:37.373 | 00:35.092 | 1 | 1616 |
| 12 | kimwooglae | 02:00.753 | 00:40.251 | 00:37.243 | 7 | 2459 |
| 13 | ep-dr-racer1 | 02:02.557 | 00:40.852 | 00:34.039 | 7 | 774 |
| 14 | kimmizian | 02:03.496 | 00:41.165 | 00:38.536 | 4 | 1380 |
| 15 | think | 02:03.960 | 00:41.320 | 00:37.170 | 8 | 1328 |
| 16 | blueberrypie | 02:09.456 | 00:43.152 | 00:40.313 | 8 | 799 |
| 17 | GregRacing | 02:09.493 | 00:43.164 | 00:38.190 | 5 | 20 |
| 18 | drunken-monkey | 02:09.700 | 00:43.233 | 00:40.900 | 1 | 6 |
| 19 | kim | 02:13.432 | 00:44.477 | 00:43.931 | 3 | 25 |
| 20 | ProteusXplorer | 02:18.551 | 00:46.183 | 00:37.541 | 4 | 73 |
Currently we’re still missing GT-DevelopersIO who raced wonderfully in the April’s finale and lost his qualification in the last runs of the race. I’m sure we’ll see him again. NYCU students have not made an appearance just yet. They have made their last day entries a signature move, but then in April it left them all in places 20-40. Will they manage to improve this month?
Finally, it is important to mention two rookies: GregRacing and kim have started racing in 2021, qualified into the Pro Division and now are in the finale spots. They will however have to up their game a bit to increase their chances as they are in the hot seats, joined by a returner drunken-monkey who has been in the community since 2019 but has had a longer break. Good to see him back not just on Slack.
Open Division
Race info:
- 45.193 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
Let’s start with overall stats:
All submissions Update time: 2021-05-17 21:00:00 UTC Racers: 354 Total submission attempts: 2458 Best total time: 01:23.839 by Otaboroid Mean total time: 04:38.314717514 Best lap: 00:27.078 by svenus Mean best lap: 01:20.092282486 Mean average lap: 01:32.771251412
354 racers sounds like a bit of a slow-down in new appearances. New waves usually show up around the events just like the last month’s India Women’s League. This month I’m expecting to see a few groups when the AWS Summit Online pick up. They usually have some workshops and races so there’s often a chance to get some credits (bear in mind I haven’t checked if there are any credits giveaways).
So far this means 35 racers to qualify into the Pro Division.
Top 20 submissions Update time: 2021-05-17 21:00:00 UTC Racers: 20 Total submission attempts: 477 Best total time: 01:23.839 by Otaboroid Mean total time: 02:02.231650 Best lap: 00:27.078 by svenus Mean best lap: 00:36.637250 Mean average lap: 00:40.743650
Again, we have the split between the best total time and the best lap time. Otaboroid from Nigeria has started racing in October 2020, in the reInvent Wildcard race he ended 17th which was pretty close to a qualification. This month it looks like this is a month to qualify into the Pro Division. Svenus has been in the finals in 2020 and is now in the second, with a pretty high chance to qualify as well. Let’s have a look at the whole top 20:
| Rank | Racer | Total Time | Avg Lap | Best Lap | Resets | Submissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Otaboroid | 01:23.839 | 00:27.946 | 00:27.535 | 0 | 108 |
| 2 | svenus | 01:26.118 | 00:28.706 | 00:27.078 | 1 | 54 |
| 3 | mz-sin | 01:29.450 | 00:29.816 | 00:29.722 | 0 | 25 |
| 4 | edxtore | 01:39.776 | 00:33.258 | 00:33.182 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Dzmitry | 01:42.717 | 00:34.239 | 00:30.816 | 5 | 58 |
| 6 | Polaris-DNPds | 01:58.540 | 00:39.513 | 00:38.203 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | BrilliantDragon | 01:58.584 | 00:39.528 | 00:34.399 | 3 | 1 |
| 8 | mansoor | 02:01.525 | 00:40.508 | 00:30.999 | 7 | 37 |
| 9 | phu | 02:02.011 | 00:40.670 | 00:36.455 | 2 | 24 |
| 10 | THE-REAL-GODZILLA | 02:02.244 | 00:40.748 | 00:37.324 | 2 | 41 |
| 11 | Aurora-DNPds | 02:07.822 | 00:42.607 | 00:36.156 | 6 | 6 |
| 12 | Hyderabad-3-Vega | 02:09.454 | 00:43.151 | 00:40.675 | 1 | 4 |
| 13 | IceManNCSU | 02:15.246 | 00:45.082 | 00:35.469 | 7 | 22 |
| 14 | basha | 02:15.881 | 00:45.293 | 00:36.869 | 7 | 4 |
| 15 | cyyyrus | 02:19.680 | 00:46.560 | 00:41.075 | 4 | 29 |
| 16 | T-Matsu | 02:20.998 | 00:46.999 | 00:41.553 | 6 | 5 |
| 17 | DataVroom | 02:21.601 | 00:47.200 | 00:45.086 | 7 | 31 |
| 18 | Talladega-Nights | 02:21.933 | 00:47.311 | 00:45.329 | 10 | 8 |
| 19 | ABRacer | 02:23.373 | 00:47.791 | 00:41.813 | 12 | 2 |
| 20 | CopenhagenRacer123 | 02:23.841 | 00:47.947 | 00:43.007 | 9 | 12 |
In the top 20 we’ve got quite a company: Hyderabad-3-Vega has been a finalist through the Wildacrd racer, IceManNCSU has been around since 2019, we’ve got two DNPds racers from Japan. Quite interesting racers to follow in the weeks to come.
Remember to join us next week to see how the races unfold!