Time is running out for those who want to join the championships. With just over a week left to race in the League and 13 spots left for grabs the racing is getting increasingly tense. But then it’s worth remembering that we already have 57 finalists determined, and they are already waiting for the information on what’s ahead of them in Las Vegas.
Well, here’s what.
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.
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- Announcing AWS DeepRacer League 2024. New year, new rules
- The AWS ML community is moving to Discord
AWS DeepRacer Championships
Each DeepRacer year ends with the championships which happens during the AWS re:Invent Conference in Las Vegas in the week ending in November and starting in December.
A bit of history
In 2018 when AWS DeepRacer has been announced it was a humble race of three participants who managed to clock breathtaking times in the area of one minute on the 2018 track where current best times are below six seconds.
2019 has seen the first actual league and championship qualifications. We raced at the MGM Grand Arena in three rounds: first in groups, then in double elimination bracket and last in a live final on stage ahead of the Werner Vogels’ key note.
In 2020 plans were even grander but we ended up racing virtually, taking the benefit of the new live racing format. In 2021 the format was pretty similar but involved also racing head to head virtually.
Last year, in 2022 we returned to Vegas, having the first round race on two tracks at the MGM and then having the rest of racing mostly at the Expo area.
What are the championships about, really?
You’d think getting to Las Vegas, joining the conference and having some fun would be enough of a prize. It is great, I admit, but there’s more.
To me, the championships are a celebration of curiosity, determination and learning. The amazing effort they have put in the league is just a scratch on the surface of what happened throughout the year: we’ve been helping students, organising events at our companies, building tools, supporting new racers on their learning journey and using DeepRacer to ignite more curiosity and to show that one can learn about machine learning while having loads of fun.
And there are prizes.
Prizes
This year the prizes will go to top six finishers:
- Champion: $20,000 and the Championship Cup trophy
- Second place: $10,000 and the second place Championship Cup trophy
- Third place: $5,000 and the third place Championship Cup trophy
- Fourth, fifth, sixth place: $3,000
Oh, and top six racers will win the opportunity to race exotic cars in Las Vegas on November the 30th. It’s called Exotic Car Racing Experience and two more places for this are being thought for in the cumulative leaderboard for the whole season, and in the global October standings (just a reminder: https://blog.deepracing.io/2023/10/01/aws-deepracer-league-2023-announcing-october-race-with-an-exciting-special-prize/).
AWS DeepRacer Championships 2023 format
As every year, we’ve got some new elements in the championship format.
Round one: Regional Knock-out
When: Monday 27th November 2023, starting 10:00 am PT
Where: Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas
Race details:
- Virtual race
- Track: Expedition Super Loop Track
- Format: Time Trial, Clockwise
- Ranked by: Single Fastest Lap
- Race style: Continuous Laps
- Time per attempt: 2
- Number of attempts: 2
This is the first time we will be racing virtually while in Vegas. Also, the venue will be completely new to us. Participants will be divided into six regional groups and will be evaluated against only the racers in their region. The six regional races will be happening simultaneously and each will be visible live at the venue.
From each regional race top five participants will continue into Round two.
Last chance: Wildcard Race
When: Monday 27th November 2023, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm PT
Where: The AWS DeepRacer Championship Stadium at the Sands Expo
Race details:
- Physical race
- Track: re:Invent 2022 Championship Track, Clockwise
- Format: Time Trial
- Ranked by: Single Fastest Lap
- Race style: Continuous Laps
- Time per attempt: 2 minutes
The wildcard race will happen in its traditional format. All the re:Invent participants will be able to enter, including those eliminated in round one.
Two best racers will continue to Round two.
Round two: Field of 32 Race
When: Tuesday 28th November 2023, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm PT and Wednesday 29th November 2023, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm PT
Where: The AWS DeepRacer Championship Stadium at the Sands Expo
Race details:
- Physical race
- Track: re:Invent 2022 Championship Track, Clockwise
- Format: Time Trial
- Ranked by: Best average lap time over three consecutive laps
- Race style: Continuous Laps
- Time per attempt: 2 minutes
- Number of attempts: 2
Now this is new: while the track has been known to the racers last year, we had to spin up the fastest lap possible and even a single lap like that guaranteed a good result. This year it’s about stability: if you don’t get three clean laps in a row, it’s a DNF even if you have two out of each three consecutive laps clean. If you get four consecutive laps then it’s laps 1-2-3 and laps 2-3-4 that count for the average and the better one is your time. I’m curious to see how this plays out!
But if you get the right clean laps in, each consecutive three laps will be used to calculate the average lap time and the best average lap time will be used in the leaderboard. So for instance if you complete four clean laps in a row, you will get two average times, and the best one will be your leaderboard time.
Round two will be happening over two days with first group on Tuesday and second group on Wednesday. The racing groups will be determined (mostly) by the regional split: on Tuesday we will see APAC, GCR and MEA regions and the wildcard winner, and on Wednesday it will be NAMER, SAMER and EU regions and the wildcard runner-up.
The top eight racers will advance into round three.
Round three: Time Trial Bracket of 8 Race
When: Wednesday 29th November 2023, 2:30 pm – 6:00 pm PT
Where: The AWS DeepRacer Championship Stadium at the Sands Expo
Race details:
- Physical race
- Track: re:Invent 2022 Championship Track, Clockwise
- Format: Time Trial
- Ranked by: Single fastest lap
- Race style: Continuous Laps
- Time per attempt: 2 minutes
- Number of attempts: 2
And we’re back to the format observed in 2022 where we have a double elimination bracket. Racers will be seeded into pairs and will perform three or four attempts. After the first two attempts the slower racer has their second attempt. If it is above the faster racer’s time, the winner is determined immediately, if it is below, the other racer has the second attempt.
The double elimination bracket continues until we have a winner determined.
Summary
This year we will have a mixture of virtual and physical racing and a format with an emphasis on stability. I am curious to see how it will play out. We will also need to wait for the final rules for the championship to be announced to be sure that nothing significant has changed.
What I am confident of is that we will have a great time together as a community. I also hope that we’ll get to meet some new racers and learn new tricks.
If you are coming to Las Vegas for re:Invent, be sure stop by the track and have a chat with your friendly AWS DeepRacer Community member. Also remember to join the community at http://join.deepracing.io to connect with us before the conference.
Follow https://blog.deepracing.io to learn who al the finalists are, how we all do, what interesting sessions you can find at re:Invent and how you can use DeepRacer to enter the amazing world of machine learning.