May races have ended and brought a few surprises. Join me for a summary of the DeepRollerCoaster.
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 Underground
The live stream will take place on the 8th of June at 16:00 BST/17:00 CET on https://www.twitch.tv/awsdeepracer
Join David Smith and me as we will be running the models submitted to the races.
Finale Races
This Thursday at 5:30 pm PST (10:30 pm AEDT, Friday 1:30 am BST) tune in to main AWS Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/aws to see us fighting for the places in AWS DeepRacer 2021 Championships in Las Vegas!
June Races
While we’re looking at the last week of May racing, June edition has already begun.
Visit the AWS DeepRacer Console to join the fun!.
AWS Machine Learning NanoDegree Scholarship Program at Udacity
Udacity and AWS invite you to participate in the scholarship program where you can be given access to a Machine Learning NanoDegree teaching various aspects of working with machine learning and deploying it in production. Registrations end 23rd of June. See the details.
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
This has been a tough race. I have joined in the last two weeks and managed to hold on to a top 16 place throughout. In year 2021 there was no other race with so much activity in the top places. To give you an idea about the improvements, let me just say that seven days before the end the difference between the first and sixteenth finale-qualifying place was 46.5 seconds and in the final results it went down to 15.5 seconds – that’s just over five seconds per lap! While I’m aware that finale’s object avoidance is different (and tougher due to rules), that still is pretty impressive.
Let’s have a look at all submissions
All submissions Comparing to 2021-05-24 21:00:00 UTC Racers: 131 (+17) Total submission attempts: 54222 (+20486) Best total time: 01:03.726 (-00:00.568) by JJ Mean total time: 03:39.656229008 (+00:00.738746551) Best lap: 00:20.815 (-00:00.031) by flatearth Mean best lap: 01:04.185977099 (+00:00.342468327) Mean average lap: 01:13.218412214 (+00:00.246254319)
17 new racers in the last week including one student from NYCU. Congratulations to flatearth for also jumping in last-minute to steal JJ’s best lap listing. They both have a place in the Championship in Las Vegas so that doesn’t change much but it’s refreshing to see that there is some rivalry at the top spots.
Top 20 submissions Comparing to 2021-05-24 21:00:00 UTC Racers: 20 Total submission attempts: 27400 (+7171) Best total time: 01:03.726 (-00:00.568) by JJ Mean total time: 01:11.868200 (-00:15.913500) Best lap: 00:20.815 (-00:00.031) by flatearth Mean best lap: 00:23.165050 (-00:04.068750) Mean average lap: 00:23.955700 (-00:05.304550)
Top twenty racers have been responsible for over a third of last week’s submissions. Mean total time has gone down by almost 16 seconds which shows how determined the racers were. Let’s see the standings now, finale racers in bold:
| Rank | Racer | Total Time | Avg Lap | Best Lap | Resets | Submissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (↔0) | JJ | 01:03.726 (-00:00.568) | 00:21.242 (-00:00.189) | 00:21.097 (+00:00.251) | 0 (-0) | 4313 (+1509) |
| 2 (↔0) | Karl-NAB | 01:04.776 (-00:00.000) | 00:21.592 (-00:00.000) | 00:21.219 (-00:00.000) | 0 (-0) | 5247 (+1760) |
| 3 (↔0) | JPMC-DriftKing-Houston | 01:05.503 (-00:00.041) | 00:21.834 (-00:00.014) | 00:21.473 (+00:00.207) | 0 (-0) | 244 (+132) |
| 4 (⬆8) | Joffe | 01:07.008 (-00:22.775) | 00:22.336 (-00:07.591) | 00:21.871 (-00:02.538) | 0 (-3) | 865 (+806) |
| 5 (⬆2) | Jochem | 01:07.052 (-00:05.449) | 00:22.350 (-00:01.817) | 00:21.737 (-00:01.869) | 0 (-0) | 751 (+680) |
| 6 (⬆9) | ZhengYi-NYCU-CGI | 01:07.346 (-00:38.442) | 00:22.448 (-00:12.814) | 00:22.147 (-00:12.250) | 0 (-0) | 260 (+219) |
| 7 (⬇3) | Ernesto | 01:07.698 (-00:02.860) | 00:22.566 (-00:00.953) | 00:22.339 (-00:00.527) | 0 (-0) | 1840 (+1023) |
| 8 (–) | Yoway-NYCU-CGI | 01:08.035 (–:–.—) | 00:22.678 (–:–.—) | 00:21.999 (–:–.—) | 0 (–) | 323 (–) |
| 9 (–) | flatearth | 01:09.325 (–:–.—) | 00:23.108 (–:–.—) | 00:20.815 (–:–.—) | 1 (–) | 4 (–) |
| 10 (↔0) | Yi-LI-NYCU-CGI | 01:09.465 (-00:15.277) | 00:23.155 (-00:05.092) | 00:22.341 (-00:03.137) | 0 (-1) | 332 (+135) |
| 11 (⬇6) | Duckworth | 01:11.465 (-00:00.241) | 00:23.821 (-00:00.081) | 00:23.053 (-00:00.097) | 0 (-0) | 1476 (+162) |
| 12 (⬇6) | dartjason | 01:12.016 (-00:00.000) | 00:24.005 (-00:00.000) | 00:23.908 (-00:00.000) | 0 (-0) | 1258 (-0) |
| 13 (⬆1) | Penguin-DNPds | 01:13.842 (-00:27.332) | 00:24.614 (-00:09.110) | 00:24.150 (-00:07.718) | 0 (-4) | 417 (+274) |
| 14 (⬇5) | Matt | 01:15.083 (-00:04.992) | 00:25.027 (-00:01.664) | 00:24.063 (-00:02.302) | 0 (-0) | 3035 (+1118) |
| 15 (⬇7) | rosscomp1 | 01:16.213 (-00:00.000) | 00:25.404 (-00:00.000) | 00:24.179 (-00:00.000) | 0 (-0) | 1663 (+247) |
| 16 (⬆20) | Breadcentric | 01:16.961 (-01:05.481) | 00:25.653 (-00:21.827) | 00:25.225 (-00:12.601) | 0 (-5) | 1482 (+1426) |
| 17 (⬆22) | Rober | 01:19.433 (-01:21.526) | 00:26.477 (-00:27.176) | 00:25.514 (-00:20.236) | 0 (-16) | 872 (+871) |
| 18 (⬆11) | AJM-Model-1 | 01:19.631 (-00:50.888) | 00:26.543 (-00:16.963) | 00:25.594 (-00:15.053) | 0 (-7) | 1621 (+1547) |
| 19 (⬇1) | JPMC-HandsFree-London | 01:21.194 (-00:28.426) | 00:27.064 (-00:09.476) | 00:25.065 (-00:02.086) | 1 (-4) | 426 (+267) |
| 20 (⬇9) | GT-DevelopersIO | 01:21.592 (-00:04.162) | 00:27.197 (-00:01.387) | 00:25.512 (-00:02.145) | 1 (+1) | 971 (+699) |
It’s a bitter end of the month for GT-DevelopersIO who have fought hard and even managed to jump ahead of JPMC-HandsFree-London briefly only to be overtaken again. Last month almost qualified into Vegas, this month out of the finale.
We have a few groups of racers in this finale, I think it’s worth listing the finale veterans: JPMC-DriftKing-Houston, Jochem, Ernesto, dartjason, Duckworth have been to every finale this season. We’ve got a few second-timers as well and a few rookies. Out of that group I will be paying attention to (myself and) the NYCU students. Studying at the Computer Games and Intelligence (CGI) Lab they have delivered a lot of spectacular (and soul crushing) entries in DeepRacer. It seems that this year however the competition introduces as many challenges to them as to other racers. Last month their last minute submission strategy meant they missed the finale, this month they landed in the middle of the group. We’ll see what they will present in the last race of the month but if I were to point at a surprising qualification winner this month, it would be someone from that group. It all will boil down to how well they can deals with unknown locations of the boxes.
Open Division
Race info:
- 45193 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
The Open Division track is slightly more forgiving with a milder turns section but still brings many challenges to the racers.
All submissions Comparing to 2021-05-24 21:00:00 UTC Racers: 563 (+86) Total submission attempts: 5051 (+1148) Best total time: 01:06.983 by JPMC-TeamOne-BuenosAires Mean total time: 04:40.130134991 (-00:03.878781151) Best lap: 00:21.737 by JPMC-TeamOne-BuenosAires Mean best lap: 01:20.390312611 (-00:00.450404370) Mean average lap: 01:33.376390764 (-00:01.292929991)
Fewer racers joined the competition this week. The total of 563 means we’ve got 56 qualifiers into the Pro Division. There is a huge gap between the Best and mean total lap. JPMC-TeamOne-BuenosAires have maintained their lead to the end of the race. They will join other JPMC Pro racers in the fight for the finals.
Top 20 submissions Update time: 2021-06-06 23:03:43.603132 UTC Comparing to 2021-05-24 21:00:00 UTC Racers: 20 Total submission attempts: 886 (+130) Best total time: 01:06.983 by JPMC-TeamOne-BuenosAires Mean total time: 01:41.617750 (-00:10.849400) Best lap: 00:21.737 by JPMC-TeamOne-BuenosAires Mean best lap: 00:31.074600 (-00:02.986100) Mean average lap: 00:33.872300 (-00:03.616450)
One thing I’d like to point at here is that top 20 racers are responsible for just over 10% of all submissions in the last week. There simply isn’t enough incentive to fight for the top spot in the Open Division in my opinion. I hope AWS will think of some incentives to increase engagement at this stage.
This is a list of racers in qualifying places:
| Rank | Racer | Total Time | Avg Lap | Best Lap | Resets | Submissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (↔0) | JPMC-TeamOne-BuenosAires | 01:06.983 (-00:00.000) | 00:22.327 (-00:00.000) | 00:21.737 (-00:00.000) | 0 (-0) | 81 (+19) |
| 2 (–) | Rezso-ShallowMind | 01:15.987 (–:–.—) | 00:25.329 (–:–.—) | 00:24.543 (–:–.—) | 0 (–) | 12 (–) |
| 3 (↔0) | edxtore | 01:18.331 (-00:02.067) | 00:26.110 (-00:00.689) | 00:25.268 (-00:01.022) | 0 (-0) | 41 (+10) |
| 4 (⬇2) | Otaboroid | 01:19.119 (-00:00.000) | 00:26.373 (-00:00.000) | 00:25.335 (-00:00.000) | 0 (-0) | 161 (+33) |
| 5 (⬇1) | svenus | 01:26.118 (-00:00.000) | 00:28.706 (-00:00.000) | 00:27.078 (-00:00.000) | 1 (-0) | 62 (-0) |
| 6 (–) | Bandi-ShallowMind | 01:26.514 (–:–.—) | 00:28.838 (–:–.—) | 00:25.526 (–:–.—) | 2 (–) | 6 (–) |
| 7 (⬇2) | mz-sin | 01:29.450 (-00:00.000) | 00:29.816 (-00:00.000) | 00:29.722 (-00:00.000) | 0 (-0) | 27 (+2) |
| 8 (⬆5) | Kapricosky | 01:31.058 (-00:31.736) | 00:30.352 (-00:10.579) | 00:29.549 (-00:06.043) | 0 (-3) | 4 (+3) |
| 9 (⬇3) | Dzmitry | 01:42.717 (-00:00.000) | 00:34.239 (-00:00.000) | 00:30.816 (-00:00.000) | 5 (-0) | 58 (-0) |
| 10 (⬇3) | Aurora-DNPds | 01:45.972 (-00:00.000) | 00:35.324 (-00:00.000) | 00:32.944 (-00:00.000) | 4 (-0) | 41 (+4) |
| 11 (⬆3) | myfirstcar | 01:47.851 (-00:18.171) | 00:35.950 (-00:06.057) | 00:30.460 (-00:06.542) | 6 (-7) | 54 (+15) |
| 12 (–) | TimChan-HongKong | 01:50.120 (–:–.—) | 00:36.706 (–:–.—) | 00:30.333 (–:–.—) | 6 (–) | 5 (–) |
| 13 (–) | BambooClaw | 01:50.381 (–:–.—) | 00:36.793 (–:–.—) | 00:33.394 (–:–.—) | 5 (–) | 31 (–) |
| 14 (⬇6) | Polaris-DNPds | 01:58.540 (-00:00.000) | 00:39.513 (-00:00.000) | 00:38.203 (-00:00.000) | 3 (-0) | 3 (-0) |
| 15 (⬇6) | BrilliantDragon | 01:58.584 (-00:00.000) | 00:39.528 (-00:00.000) | 00:34.399 (-00:00.000) | 3 (-0) | 1 (-0) |
| 16 (–) | LeadingAI | 01:59.597 (–:–.—) | 00:39.865 (–:–.—) | 00:39.320 (–:–.—) | 0 (–) | 2 (–) |
| 17 (⬆6) | Box-Box-Box | 02:00.531 (-00:17.513) | 00:40.177 (-00:05.837) | 00:36.942 (-00:06.966) | 8 (+1) | 89 (+23) |
| 18 (⬇8) | phu | 02:00.733 (-00:00.000) | 00:40.244 (-00:00.000) | 00:37.600 (-00:00.000) | 1 (-0) | 71 (-0) |
| 19 (⬇8) | mansoor | 02:01.525 (-00:00.000) | 00:40.508 (-00:00.000) | 00:30.999 (-00:00.000) | 7 (-0) | 37 (-0) |
| 20 (⬇8) | THE-REAL-GODZILLA | 02:02.244 (-00:00.000) | 00:40.748 (-00:00.000) | 00:37.324 (-00:00.000) | 2 (-0) | 100 (+9) |
| 21 (⬆7) | Talladega-Nights | 02:02.853 (-00:19.080) | 00:40.951 (-00:06.360) | 00:36.635 (-00:08.694) | 6 (-4) | 9 (+1) |
| 22 (⬆9) | Ash-DNPds | 02:03.796 (-00:19.596) | 00:41.265 (-00:06.532) | 00:37.643 (-00:06.286) | 8 (-3) | 6 (+2) |
| 23 (⬇8) | JennerBrandon | 02:07.606 (-00:00.000) | 00:42.535 (-00:00.000) | 00:40.316 (-00:00.000) | 8 (-0) | 16 (-0) |
| 24 (⬇8) | JPMC-Vega-Hyderabad | 02:08.002 (-00:01.452) | 00:42.667 (-00:00.484) | 00:40.723 (+00:00.048) | 1 (-0) | 30 (+20) |
| 25 (–) | mymymyracer | 02:08.732 (–:–.—) | 00:42.910 (–:–.—) | 00:42.205 (–:–.—) | 3 (–) | 31 (–) |
| 26 (⬇9) | testmiya | 02:09.590 (-00:00.000) | 00:43.196 (-00:00.000) | 00:36.729 (-00:00.000) | 7 (-0) | 47 (+19) |
| 27 (⬇9) | 1first | 02:11.192 (-00:00.000) | 00:43.730 (-00:00.000) | 00:41.918 (-00:00.000) | 4 (-0) | 28 (+2) |
| 28 (⬆1) | Turtoise | 02:11.865 (-00:10.723) | 00:43.955 (-00:03.574) | 00:36.206 (-00:10.736) | 10 (-2) | 11 (+3) |
| 29 (⬇10) | T-Matsu | 02:15.056 (-00:00.000) | 00:45.018 (-00:00.000) | 00:41.066 (-00:00.000) | 5 (-0) | 8 (-0) |
| 30 (⬇10) | IceManNCSU | 02:15.246 (-00:00.000) | 00:45.082 (-00:00.000) | 00:35.469 (-00:00.000) | 7 (-0) | 22 (-0) |
| 31 (⬇10) | basha | 02:15.881 (-00:00.000) | 00:45.293 (-00:00.000) | 00:36.869 (-00:00.000) | 7 (-0) | 4 (-0) |
| 32 (⬇10) | Series | 02:16.661 (-00:00.000) | 00:45.553 (-00:00.000) | 00:42.311 (-00:00.000) | 8 (-0) | 11 (-0) |
| 33 (⬇7) | JPMC-Ann-NJ | 02:17.852 (-00:01.831) | 00:45.950 (-00:00.611) | 00:40.195 (-00:00.480) | 9 (-0) | 39 (+12) |
| 34 (↔0) | natural-farmers | 02:18.119 (-00:07.010) | 00:46.039 (-00:02.337) | 00:44.475 (+00:03.276) | 9 (-1) | 141 (+18) |
| 35 (⬇11) | WarCannonV1 | 02:19.522 (-00:00.000) | 00:46.507 (-00:00.000) | 00:45.407 (-00:00.000) | 3 (-0) | 57 (+7) |
| 36 (⬇11) | cyyyrus | 02:19.680 (-00:00.000) | 00:46.560 (-00:00.000) | 00:41.075 (-00:00.000) | 4 (-0) | 29 (-0) |
| 37 (–) | DanielRicciardo | 02:21.250 (–:–.—) | 00:47.083 (–:–.—) | 00:44.334 (–:–.—) | 7 (–) | 10 (–) |
| 38 (⬇11) | DataVroom | 02:21.601 (-00:00.000) | 00:47.200 (-00:00.000) | 00:45.086 (-00:00.000) | 7 (-0) | 76 (+12) |
| 39 (⬆179) | catch-me-if-you-can | 02:21.650 (-01:36.935) | 00:47.216 (-00:32.312) | 00:42.316 (-00:23.007) | 6 (-25) | 27 (+11) |
| 40 (⬆233) | DareDevils | 02:22.195 (-01:55.188) | 00:47.398 (-00:38.396) | 00:43.718 (-00:37.621) | 5 (-1) | 29 (+14) |
| 41 (⬇11) | ABRacer | 02:23.373 (-00:00.000) | 00:47.791 (-00:00.000) | 00:41.813 (-00:00.000) | 12 (-0) | 2 (-0) |
| 42 (⬇10) | Abhinav | 02:23.465 (-00:00.000) | 00:47.821 (-00:00.000) | 00:47.668 (-00:00.000) | 3 (-0) | 5 (-0) |
| 43 (⬇10) | CopenhagenRacer123 | 02:23.682 (-00:00.000) | 00:47.894 (-00:00.000) | 00:44.738 (-00:00.000) | 7 (-0) | 15 (-0) |
| 44 (–) | IVE-Cloud-Michael | 02:24.472 (–:–.—) | 00:48.157 (–:–.—) | 00:41 (–:–.—) | 5 (–) | 76 (–) |
| 45 (⬇10) | mshe | 02:24.658 (-00:01.866) | 00:48.219 (-00:00.622) | 00:45.731 (+00:08.454) | 10 (+1) | 29 (+4) |
| 46 (⬇10) | JamirLeal | 02:27.164 (-00:00.000) | 00:49.054 (-00:00.000) | 00:47.556 (-00:00.000) | 3 (-0) | 15 (-0) |
| 47 (⬇10) | TheDirtyChicken | 02:29.022 (-00:00.000) | 00:49.674 (-00:00.000) | 00:45.216 (-00:00.000) | 3 (-0) | 4 (-0) |
| 48 (⬇10) | Showheyhey | 02:29.380 (-00:00.000) | 00:49.793 (-00:00.000) | 00:42.251 (-00:00.000) | 10 (-0) | 3 (-0) |
| 49 (⬆60) | HerbiegoestoMonteCarloPolicyEvaluation | 02:30.332 (-00:53.214) | 00:50.110 (-00:17.738) | 00:40.731 (-00:01.007) | 9 (-10) | 31 (+11) |
| 50 (⬇11) | dr-admin | 02:30.333 (-00:00.000) | 00:50.111 (-00:00.000) | 00:46.280 (-00:00.000) | 2 (-0) | 1 (-0) |
| 51 (⬆377) | liga-teste | 02:30.346 (-04:54.420) | 00:50.115 (-01:38.140) | 00:48.061 (-01:31.825) | 4 (-48) | 18 (+16) |
| 52 (⬇11) | Code-machines | 02:30.401 (-00:03.064) | 00:50.133 (-00:01.022) | 00:49.733 (+00:08.159) | 0 (-15) | 37 (+9) |
| 53 (⬆33) | Dolphin-DNPds | 02:30.790 (-00:38.540) | 00:50.263 (-00:12.847) | 00:45.195 (-00:10.671) | 8 (-11) | 4 (+3) |
| 54 (⬇14) | DW | 02:31.679 (-00:00.000) | 00:50.559 (-00:00.000) | 00:47.331 (-00:00.000) | 8 (-0) | 2 (-0) |
| 55 (⬆68) | MSUALPHARACER | 02:31.709 (-00:56.234) | 00:50.569 (-00:18.745) | 00:42.527 (-00:25.143) | 4 (+4) | 3 (+2) |
| 56 (⬇14) | glei | 02:34.275 (-00:00.000) | 00:51.425 (-00:00.000) | 00:45.122 (-00:00.000) | 11 (-0) | 14 (-0) |
In the group we’ve got four 2020 finalists: Rezso-ShallowMind, svenus, Bandi-ShallowMind and JPMC-Vega-Hyderabad. It’s great to see more of the JPMC and DNPds racers. Both companies use DeepRacer as part of their machine learning training program.
Just to catch up: these are the dates to keep an eye on this week:
- Tuesday: DeepRacer Underground London
- Thursday/Friday: DeepRacer May Finale race
Remember: both on Twitch, but different channels!