Robotics and AI solutions for research and enterprise
Duckietown supports robotics research, autonomy development, embodied AI experimentation, and workforce training through modular hardware, open software, simulation environments, and deployment support.
Who is this for?
Duckietown is a robotics research platform with research and enterprise solutions designed for:
- university research laboratories
- robotics and AI research groups
- industrial R&D teams
- workforce upskilling programs
- autonomy and embodied AI experimentation
- robotics innovation initiatives
If you are not affiliated with a university or company, check out the independent personal learning page.
For activities mostly focused on academic teaching and learning, see Duckietown licensing for universities and schools.
Open autonomy
platform
Access to Duckietown software, simulation, and development tools
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Open autonomy stack
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Duckietown Shell (CLI)
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Duckietown desktop applications (GUI)
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Duckiematrix virtual environment
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Virtual Duckiebots and Duckiedrones
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Duckietown library
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Developer and research community access
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Cross-platform support
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Containerized workflows
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ROS/ROS2-compatible autonomy workflows
Technical
Support
Advanced onboarding and deployment support
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Onboarding for laboratory staff
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Staff priority support
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Private support channel
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Lab channel in Duckietown community
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Priority fulfillment
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Early access to new features
Robotics hardware
ecosystem
Equipment available worldwide
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Modular hardware platform
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Open and extensible autonomy software
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Modular robotic agents
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ROS, ROS2 support
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Self-driving cars
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Smart-city robotics environment
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Autonomous quadcopter drones
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Powered by Raspberry Pi and NVIDIA Jetson platforms
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Browser-based diagnostic dashboards
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6-month hardware warranty
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30-day return policy
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Worldwide shipping
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Q. Can Duckietown be customized for research?
Yes, researchers worldwide have published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers leveraging Duckietown.
Duckietown supports customizable robotics and AI research workflows, including autonomous driving, fleet coordination, embodied AI, reinforcement learning, computer vision, and simulation-based experimentation.
Researchers can leverage the mature designs of Duckietown mobile robots to get started quickly, and augment the hardware builds with additional sensors and actuators thanks to the open design and modular, containerized software architecture. Baseline autonomy pipelines are provided out of the box for rapid deployment.
Custom integrations and research-oriented support arrangements may also be available for larger deployments or collaborative projects.
Q. Is the platform open source?
Duckietown provides an open and extensible robotics and AI development platform designed for education, research, and experimentation.
The autonomy software stack running on Duckietown robots is openly accessible and designed to support customization, research, and development workflows.
Some infrastructure services, platform components, and deployment-oriented tools within the broader Duckietown ecosystem may remain proprietary.
Q. Can Duckietown integrate with ROS (and ROS2)?
Yes.
Duckietown supports robotics development workflows compatible with ROS and related robotics software ecosystems. The out-of-the-box autonomy pipelines for Duckiebots and Duckiedrones are ROS-based. ROS2 agents are supported too.
The platform is designed to support experimentation, integration, and extension within modern robotics and autonomy research environments.
Q. Is simulation available?
Yes.
Duckietown includes the Duckiematrix virtual environment and virtual robot workflows for simulation-based robotics development and experimentation. The Duckiematrix supports hybrid “hardware in the loop” experiments, too.
Simulation can be used for autonomy development, testing, coursework, reinforcement learning, and fleet experimentation before deploying to physical robots.
Q. Do you support hardware customizations?
In some cases, yes.
Duckietown’s modular robotics platform allows institutions and organizations to adapt hardware configurations depending on research goals, deployment constraints, or educational requirements, thanks to open analog and digital ports on our robots.
Custom hardware arrangements, fleet configurations, and deployment-oriented modifications may be available upon request.
Q. Can Duckietown support fleet experiments?
Yes.
Duckietown is designed to support multi-robot and fleet robotics experimentation, including autonomous driving coordination, traffic management, distributed robotics, and smart-city research scenarios.
The platform supports both simulated and physical robotics environments.
Q. Is deployment support available?
Yes.
Duckietown can support onboarding, deployment planning, laboratory setup, fleet initialization, and technical guidance depending on the scope of the project and support arrangement.
Priority support options may also be available for research laboratories, institutional deployments, and enterprise collaborations.
Q. Can Duckietown be used for workforce training?
Yes.
Duckietown supports hands-on workforce training in robotics, AI, autonomy, and embodied systems through practical learning experiences combining simulation, software, and physical robots.
Training programs can support engineers, researchers, students, and technical teams working with robotics and AI technologies.
Q. Are enterprise partnerships available?
Yes.
Duckietown collaborates with universities, research laboratories, companies, and organizations on robotics and AI initiatives, workforce training, research deployments, grant writing, and technology experimentation.
Partnership structures may include deployment support, customized hardware and software arrangements, collaborative projects, and long-term licensing agreements.
Q. Can Duckietown staff run our workforce training courses?
In some cases, yes.
Duckietown primarily provides the robotics platform, software infrastructure, training materials, and deployment support required for hands-on robotics and AI workforce training programs.
Direct involvement from Duckietown staff in delivering workshops, onboarding sessions, or customized training activities may be available for selected programs, institutional deployments, or enterprise collaborations depending on scope, scheduling, and project requirements.
Q. Can Duckietown support AI and reinforcement learning (RL) experimentation?
Yes.
Duckietown provides simulation environments, programmable robotics platforms, and modular software tools suitable for reinforcement learning, autonomy development, computer vision, and AI experimentation workflows.
The platform supports both educational and advanced research use cases.
Q. Can Duckietown be used for embodied AI research?
Yes.
Duckietown supports embodied AI experimentation through physical robots, simulation environments, and real-world autonomy workflows.
Researchers can experiment with perception, planning, control, navigation, reinforcement learning, and multi-agent robotics systems using both virtual and physical platforms.
Beginner
experience
Try out Duckietown in simulation
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Duckietown Shell
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Terminal UI
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Duckietown Simulator
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Massive open online course (simulation track)
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Assignment Evaluations
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Duckietown Library
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Community of learners
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Q&A knowledge base
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Community-based support
Roboticist
experience
Learn with a real Duckie-robot
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Same as Beginner experience
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Massive open online course
(sim and hw tracks) -
Powered by Raspberry Pi and NVIDA Jetson Nano
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Browser-based Dashboard
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Open software (white box)
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Modularity: grow setup as you learn
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Self-Driving Cars (Duckiebots)
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Smart-city (Duckietown)
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Quadcopters (Duckiedrones)
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6 month hardware warranty
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30 days return no questions
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Worldwide shipping