Kevin Smith, STEM managing director at MassRobotics, Boston, MA, USA

Nurturing future engineers and leaders with Kevin Smith

Posted on August 9, 2024 | by Federico Tani

Nurturing future engineers and leaders with Kevin Smith

STEM instructor Kevin Smith shares his experience at MassRobotics: providing young learners with core skills to become future engineers and sector leaders.

Boston, MA, USA, April 22nd 2024: STEM Program Manager Kevin Smith shares his work at MassRobotics, a robotics startup incubator in Boston, MA, providing learning experiences to teach technological skills and inspire future engineers and industry leaders.

Quick links

Teaching robotics to nurture future engineers and leaders

We talked with Kevin Smith from MassRobotics to learn more about his teaching activities and the programs he is involved in, such as the Jumpstart fellowship program and the Summer Duckiedrone Academy.

Good morning Kevin! May I ask you to start by introducing yourself?

Hi! My name is Kevin Smith. I have the pleasure of leading the STEM program here at MassRobotics. Our program encompasses creating STEM learning experiences ranging from two hours to six months long. The objective is to help students grow by leveraging our environment of 85-plus robotics startups. This ecosystem provides us with the opportunity to understand where technology is going in the next five to ten years, and we make sure that all of the learning experiences are ingrained with technical expertise.

Very nice. We know you use Duckietown for some of your teaching activities, when did you first run into it?

I discovered Duckietown for the first time at the Drone Academy that we were hosting here at MassRobotics, sponsored by Amazon Robotics.

We got a chance to build drones for the first time and really bring some high-level experiences to the students. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been a part of the Drone Academy and we recently wrapped up the most recent edition where we got to kick off and try some DD24, the newest version of the Duckietown drones and we were so excited about it.

How do you use drones to inspire your students?

During the Drone Academy, we had the opportunity to teach students many dynamic skills within one week, building up a lot of core technical skills, but also using the experience as a point to have conversations with students to be able to open their minds to what happens beyond their High School environment.

So, for us, Duckiedrones are a huge technical resource to be able to teach technical skills, raise the level of rigor within the environment that we’re cultivating, and also help students think about what is beyond this phase that they’re in their life so they can become engineers in the future.

Could you tell us more about the Drone Academy?

The MassRobotics Drone Academy is a one-week summer camp targeted to high-school learners where we leverage our STEM space and partnerships with Amazon, Duckietown, and Brown University to create dynamic learning experiences.

Brown University worked on and cultivated some of the first drones which Duckietown has taken to extreme lengths to make sure that the product is top-tier quality. The camp is offered directly to students at no cost, ensuring that anyone who chooses to participate in these growth experiences can do so.

That is great, you make me want to join the next edition! Are there other programs at MassRobotics you would like to share with us?

At MassRobotics, we host a plethora of different STEM experiences. One of our premiere programs is the Jumpstart program where from January to May young ladies come every Saturday, or at least three out of four Saturdays every month, and work for about six to eight hours with industry experts on CAD [Computer Assisted Design] and CNC [Computer Numerical Control] machines. Essentially they learn engineering skills within a couple of months, and after that they are paid a thousand dollars for their commitment.

But I think the biggest part is the fact that they get to experience real-world internships, and actually some of our interns from the Jumsptart program had the honor of interning at Duckietown too, where they were able to assist in the development and student experience with these drones we’re speaking of!

It sounds awesome! Who is the target of the Jumsptart program?

Jumpstart is a program targeting young ladies in high school, we think juniors are the ideal age, because once they finish their January through May sessions and gain all the technical skills and soft skills, they will be holding up to walk right into an internship which is very difficult to line up for high school students as you can imagine.

It’ll also give them a lot to write on their applications going to college in terms of experience and exposure but also the skills that those colleges are looking for.

We’re trying to cultivate the next generation of leaders, while fostering the creation equitable environments to make sure that these young ladies who step into the internship realm feel comfortable and competent

We're trying to cultivate the next generation of leaders, while fostering the creation of equitable environments to make sure that these young ladies who step into the internship realm feel comfortable and competent.

Kevin Smith

Would you recommend Duckietown to colleagues and students?

Yes, I think Duckietown is a very cool and innovative platform that allows students to explore. It’s a platform to learn so many technical skills, but also to really start up a lot of conversations, and to digest what’s actually going on behind the scenes, how are these different components engaging and interacting with each other to create autonomous robots.

From the actual Duckietown [the self-driving cars component of Duckietown] I had the pleasure to see and work with, to the Duckiedrones, I believe they bring a lot for the students to explore and engage with.

Learn more about Duckietown

Duckietown enables state-of-the-art robotics and AI learning experiences.

It is designed to help teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Tell us your story

Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell?

Reach out to us!

Teaching robot autonomy at AGH Krakow with Prof. Długosz

Posted on June 21, 2024 | by Federico Tani

Teaching robot autonomy at AGH Krakow with Prof. Długosz

Prof. Marek Dlugosz tells us what he likes about teaching robot autonomy with Duckietown in his AI and Autonomous Vehicles laboratory in Krakow, Poland.

Krakow, Poland, April 29th 2024
Professor Marek Długosz from the Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza (AGH) – University of Science and Technology in Krakow, shares his experience teaching robot autonomy with Duckietown.

Quick links

Increasing efficiency and saving time at the robot autonomy lab in AGH Krakow

We interviewed Prof. Marek Długosz form the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, to learn more about his teaching activities and laboratory.

Good morning and thank you for taking the time to be with us! Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Marek Długosz and I am an assistant professor at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow. My work is focused on robotic automatic functions theory, while last year I focused more on robot autonomy and autonomous vehicles.

Thank you. When have you encountered Duckietown for the first time?

I first learned about the Duckietown project while searching the internet for information, then I started to read more about it, and it looked very interesting for a few reasons. First of all, there’s not only a theoretical part, but there’s also the hardware part of this project which are the Duckiebots.

Then, there’s also a lot of lessons, examples and exercises for students to learn more about robotics. That’s one reason why I found it interesting. A second reason this project looked interesting is that it’s not only about one robot, but a fleet of robots, and also there is the speed regulation aspect. One of the main focus of my research is how to manage the speed of autonomous robots or autonomous cars, and I think that Duckietown can be perfect to check my ideas and algorithms rapidly and with ease. It is much easier to run five robots in my laboratory than to run four or five cars in reality!

How do you use Duckietown in your activities?

My colleagues and I use Duckiebots during classes and lessons to better explain topics related to theoretical aspects of programming in robotics. What I find very attractive is the possibility for my students to practice. They can actually program a Duckiebot and implement algorithms, such as lane following, adaptive cruise control etc. This is really something that my students and colleagues like very much. Duckietown also has fantastic software, it’s very well organized, thanks to Docker, so there is no risk that some student makes a mistake and breaks one of my robots! Students prepare the Docker container, and once the exercise is complete, they delete this container.

We also use Duckietown in our research as I said earlier, to verify and check our algorithms, and how to manage fleets of robots. One of the special aspects of Duckietown are its smart cities, with its crossroads, signs, traffic lights, etc. For us, this aspect is very interesting.

One of the latest projects done by my students was a system to localize Duckiebots on a plane using four or more video cameras, and we are about to publish the results of this project.

Very interesting thank you. What is the age of the students you are teaching right now, and would you say the students are satisfied with Duckietown?

The age bracket is students between 20 and 23 years old. I’ll just say that very often, at the end of the lessons, students decide to stay and do more exercises, they find it incredibly interesting that Duckietown is not only a simulation, as we know in a simulation you can do anything, but when you start doing things practically, taking the hardware in your hands, and programming these robots, it’s a very, very different thing.

Very often I have to stay after lessons and try to do more together with my students, to the point I must tell them to come back the day after because it’s getting late.

Also, in addition to regular lessons, in our university there is a Student Scientist Association, the members of which can go to special classes after the end of regular ones, to perform additional experiments and exercises.

Duckietown is not only a simulation, in a simulation you can do anything, but when you start doing things practically, taking the hardware in your hands, and programming these robots, it’s a very, very different thing.

Marek Długosz

Did you encounter any challenges, problems or difficulties while using Duckietown?

At the beginning, we had some problems with the assembly of the Duckiebot. I even wrote a simple article about this, but we made some improvements, which I described in this article, and now the Duckiebots work perfectly.

Do you have anything else to add about your projects and experiences?

I hope that I can motivate enough students to participate in the AI-DO competition. I’d like it if some of my students participated in that kind of challenge. I would also like to let my students understand how well organized Duckietown software is, I think there’s an absolutely perfect architecture that helps minimize the risk of errors and mistakes and there’s perfect functionality between containers. We have a lot of students and these robots need to work for everyone, so minimizing the possibility of problems is excellent.

I think that Duckietown can be perfect to check my ideas and algorithms rapidly and with ease. It is much easier to run five robots in my laboratory than to run four or five cars in reality!

Marek Długosz

Would you recommend Duckietown to colleagues and students?

Yes of course, anytime I have the occasion I recommend this project. Ours is the Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Vehicles laboratory, and it has rapidly become one of the most attractive ones in the University. Very often students show up just to see what we are doing, and every time I show Duckietown’s smart cities, and how robots drive around and stop at traffic lights, crossroads etc. It’s always a lot of fun.

Learn more about Duckietown

Duckietown enables state-of-the-art robotics and AI learning experiences.

It is designed to help teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Tell us your story

Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell?

Reach out to us!

Dino Claro: a Duckietown journey from project to thesis

Posted on May 24, 2024 | by Duckietown Admin

Dino Claro's Duckietown journey: from project to graduate thesis

Dino Claro, a mechanical and mechatronics engineering graduate from the University of Cape Town, shares his Duckietown journey: with challenges and results.

Cape Town, February 13th, 2024: Dino Claro, Graduate Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineer at the University of Cape Town, shares his experience with Duckietown and the project he developed using Duckiebots for his masters thesis.

Quick links

Duckinator: an Odometry pose-estimation for the Duckiebot robotic car platform

Hello and welcome Mr. Dino Claro! Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Dino Claro and I’m a Graduate Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineer at the University of Cape Town.

Thanks for accepting to share your experience with us. When did you first run into Duckietown?

During vacation work at the University of Cape Town (UCT) Mechatronic Systems Group, I was given the open-ended task of estimating the pose of a robot car. The goal of the vacation work was to solve a problem independently but also free from the
stresses of receiving a mark or grade. There was no expectation for novel work. In fact, the vacation work was only two weeks, and the expected solution would have been straightforward, probably odometry-based. Thus, Duckinator was born.

That's when you decided to use Duckietown?

With two platforms available, a basic Arduino 4WD kit and the Duckiebot, I could simply not resist the Duckies’ pull. The idea of using a Linux-based platform geared toward AI was extremely exciting.

At the end of the two-week vacation work, I was still ploughing through Duckietown documentation, the EdX: Self-Driving Cars with Duckietown MOOC, and ROS tutorials. My pose estimation solution seemed very far down the road. At that point, I should have realised that the DB (besides its cute exterior) is nuanced, to say the least.

Could you describe us your project?

The early phase of my project was extremely rudimentary. I had only had a couple of weeks during the vacation work to play with the DB [Duckiebot]. I planned to continue with the EdX MOOC [Self-Driving Cars with Duckietown, 2023 edition] while researching Docker and ROS on the side for the first couple of weeks and then begin development. A pitfall with this technique was completing a section of the MOOC or some other tutorial and believing I could implement it myself. My initial thinking was that if the MOOC could be completed in 10 weeks or so and given that I have already a couple of weeks’ headstart due to vacation work, I should be able to implement my standalone autonomous solution for the DB in the 12-week frame.

Spoiler alert, Duckinator did not rival Tesla. I made the realisation about 4 weeks into the project. At that stage, I was in the Object Detection activity of the MOOC. With the world in a frenzy over AI and ML, I was itching to dip my hands in some of this mysterious ML stuff.

Dr. Pretorius obliged, and my plan from this point was to implement my own standalone Duckietown-compliant Docker image for the YOLOv5. Charged with the excitement of the new project direction, I began researching ML, computer vision algorithms and YOLO itself. Implementing the YOLOv5 model was relatively smooth sailing and I loved learning computer vision. In all honesty, my YOLOv5 model was just organising the Object Detection MOOC into a standalone Docker image as the MOOC hides the Docker image from the student. I obtained the training data using the MOOC helper files and then trained the YOLOv5 model using a very similar Google Colab script as provided by the MOOC.

I slightly extended the YOLOv5 model from the MOOC by training the model to detect DBs, which proved to be sort of successful. As I only had one Duckiebot, I tested the model by parking Duckinator in front of a mirror or putting it in front of my laptop showing photos of other DBs. Due to this shabby testing, I left this extension out of my write-up. This was all completed after week 7.

With the world in a frenzy over AI and ML, I was itching to dip my hands in some of this mysterious ML stuff.

Dino Claro

Did you meet your objectives?

Completing the Object Detection model effectively meant that my revised project brief had been met but as I still had some time, I needed to extend the model in some way.

Duckinator had eyes but I wanted to make it move … autonomously. I had the idea of creating a safety controller where the distance of objects from the duckiebot could be inferred using the predicted bound box and perspective geometry.

My theory went as follows: knowing the real-world size of all the objects the DB could detect and comparing this to the dimensions of the bounding box provided by the YOLO model, it would be possible to infer the depth of the object and this depth could then be used to base autonomous controller commands. This led me to research autonomous vehicle safety architectures/controllers and modern depth estimation algorithms. I soon realised that much more advanced autonomous architectures existed. For instance, modern autonomous vehicles fuse camera feeds, object detection models, kinematic models and various other sensors to generate vector or depth maps. The creation of these depth maps is extremely complex and a field of intense research.

What where the challenges you encountered during your project?

After coding up my algorithm for the projective projection algorithm, I obtained unexpected results. Negative in most cases. Describing my algorithm in more clarity to Dr. Pretorius, he made it clear that a simple projection perspective would not work in this case.

I was projecting everything from the camera image to the ground plane but of course, the duckies and any other objects do not exist solely on the ground plane. This being week 10 of the project, I had simply run out of time and had to scrap the projective perspective and had no time to implement any of the more complex algorithms out there.

I was devastated at the fact that Duckinator was not going to move.

Upon some reflection though, the YOLOv5 model was working quite well, and I had all this research about autonomous architectures and depth estimation. One of the autonomous architectures I researched was Braitenberg vehicles acting as, possibly, the simplest autonomous architecture. A basic Braitenberg controller was simple enough to implement and would mean once again Duckinator could move.

Bounding boxes were populated onto a black image and then divided into left and right region maps. These maps were then element-wise multiplied with a weight matrix to provide a scalar value which can be used for wheel commands. Using the ‘fear’ Braitenberg vehicle the DB would then steer away from any detected objects. Another realisation was that my project was experimental with one of the main goals being for it to act as a stepping stone for future projects.

At this stage (two weeks before my project was due) I was satisfied with a newly engineered aim: Evaluating the viability of the Duckietown platform at the undergraduate level by implementing an ML object detection model. The key outputs being the YOLOv5 model (Duckie Detector) as well as possible future projects and trajectories for students.

The real learning occurs when getting your hands dirty, experimenting and troubleshooting.

Dino Claro

What are your final considerations?

Reflecting on my journey from a complete beginner to a slightly more competent beginner, here’s my advice for those on a similar journey:

Begin with a blank Duckietown-compliant Docker image and dive into coding a demo, whether it’s based on my solution or another. Ultimately, the goal is to first understand the code and then attempt to recreate it without directly copying.

While documentation and EdX activities are useful in providing broad overviews and points of contact for debugging, relying solely on them may create a deceptive sense of competency.

The real learning occurs when getting your hands dirty, experimenting and troubleshooting.

Thank you very much for taking the time, we appreciated your story very much! Is there anything else you would like to add?

Yes, I would say that embracing the hands-on experience is key to understanding the platform and being immersed in the infectious ethos surrounding Duckietown.

On that note, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Pretorius for granting me the freedom to experiment and the opportunity to work with the Duckiebot. I eagerly await future projects and the growth of the Duckietown community

Learn more about Duckietown

Duckietown enables state-of-the-art robotics and AI learning experiences.

It is designed to help teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Tell us your story

Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell?

Reach out to us!

Successful failures: learning robotics with Prof. Bruegge

Posted on January 25, 2024 | by Duckietown Admin

Prof. Bruegge and his colleagues about his experience using Duckietown and the new 4GB Duckiebots.

Munich, April 3rd: Prof. Bruegge (Brügge) studied computer science at the University of Hamburg and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where he also earned his doctorate. Appointed as Professor at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in 1997, and also associate professor at CMU, Prof. Brügge was on the research committee of Deutsch Telekom and the Munich district. He has served on the board of directors of the Center for Digital Technology and Management, and acted as liaison professor for the Max Weber Foundation and the German National Academic Foundation (2000–2017).

Quick links

Failing successfully, an interview with Prof. Bruegge

Prof. Bruegge and the JASS 2023 summer camp

Prof. Bruegge, Bernd, is an established computer scientist researcher and Professor, having (co)authored hundreds of peer reviewed publications with over 8800 citations at the time of this writing.

Emeritus Professor since 2021, Bernd regularly contributes to the organization and running of the Joint Advanced Student School (JASS).

In this interview we capture his experience from the summer 2022 edition.

We are thrilled to have this chat with him!

Good morning! Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Bernd Bruegge. I was a Full Professor of Computer Science at the Technical University in Munich, I was at Carnegie Mellon before I joined the Technical University. I was for 20 years at the Computer Science Department at CMU in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

What can you tell us about this JASS school event that took place in Cyprus?

The recent [2023] school was quite an adventure!

My colleague, Prof. Kirill Krinkin, was in St. Petersburg. We had done all the JASS projects with Kirill and support activities by JetBrains in St. Petersburg. And as you know, it’s a total disaster there, there’s nothing left.

So we organized this school in Cyprus with 10 students from Munich and 10 from Cyprus and St. Petersburg. And once there, we built an advanced Duckiebot system, with focus on context sensitivity.

We looked not only at intersections and turns, but we also had times when the Duckiebots would have to slow down, or stop at repair sites where we had traffic lights. There were not only OCR codes, we used Thread and Matter. Are you familiar with Thread and Matter?

I call this a "successful failure". The challenge in using advanced technology in the real world is that when you explore edge cases, unexpected situations may arise that one would not have considered by just simulating the same scenarios.

Prof. Bernd Bruegge

Is this a new functionality you added to the system?

Yes, this is actually an add-on we made to Duckietown. It’s a new IP standard that allows to save energy much, much more than Bluetooth. It’s actually better by a factor of 10. We added Thread and Matter capabilities to our Duckietown environment.

That's fascinating! When did you first encounter Duckietown?

Well, I first heard of Duckietown a long time ago. As you know, I have been at Carnegie Mellon, which competed with MIT and Stanford. And when Kirill told me he would be a visiting professor at MIT, I asked: “What are you doing there?” And he said, “I’m using Duckietown!”

He was interested in robots and robotic technology and observed that this new technology is actually more like an environment and ecosystem than just a robot.

We then came up with a few ideas: first in St. Petersburg, we used a combination of drones and Duckiebots. Our scenario included two airports and a (duckie!) passenger. The drone had to pick up the duckie from one Duckiebot, and the students, divided into three teams, had to develop their own pickup mechanisms.

Each of them with different approaches. One used magnets, the other one used scoops, and so on. They had to then transport the duckie from airport A to airport B using indoor navigation GPS. There was our first really impressive demo.

Credits: Special thanks to Andreas Jung and Ruth Demmel, and the multimedia team supporting Prof. Bruegge.

Prof. Bruegge, do you feel you achieved your objectives?

I’d say we didn’t fulfill our technical objectives. The main challenge with Duckiebots was the third, omnidirectional, wheel, which had too much attrition. So, for instance, if we came to drive near a church, the idea would be to slow down the speed. But then we discovered it was difficult to control the Duckiebot at low speed, since when it comes down to a crawl, friction may cause it to stop. So operating at low speeds was not a practical possibility.

But I call this a “successful failure”. The challenge in using advanced technology in the real world is that when you explore edge cases, unexpected situations may arise that one would not have considered by just simulating the same scenarios.

I think the Duckiebot is good at lane-following and following traffic rules. When looking at context sensitivity though the challenges are trickier. So, e.g., we have a construction site with two traffic lights, how to coordinate them so to minimize, e.g., traffic? If you have one Duckiebot coming from one side and one coming from the other, then one traffic light should go green, and the other one should be red.

But then we also have the idea that you have one traffic site that consists of multiple repair sites. In that situation the Duckiebots, lining up at the red traffic light, should have a green wave to go through each of the traffic lights until they exit the last traffic light.

So what we had in mind was coordination, making sure the Duckiebots were talking to each other. We used Python and the Duckiebots with 4GB NVIDIA Jetson Nanos, and this happened during a five-day course.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

We plan to prepare a special room for students from primary schools, to show them the interplay of autonomous driving and context-sensitive or ubiquitous computing.

We would like to use the room in multiple ways. So we would like to have the Duckietown road sections, the tiles, interconnected in such a way that that allows us to switch between topographies basically in no time.

We have not been able to do this yet in an easy way, it’s always a scramble. Even if we use the same layout, the yellow tape is breaking or the white tapes are out of sync, and then we have to repair them.

So it would be great if we managed to keep the set up time for schools, especially for children (10 to 12 years), when doing exhibitions here, to under three minutes.

That's a great suggestion, thanks! Do you think Duckietown can be useful for younger learners too?

Yes, I think Duckietown can be very persuasive with young kids. They’re used to Lego or Fischer products, so when they meet the Duckiebot, that’s their first exposure to robots.

We actually have another project in mind, a series of Summer Schools. I’m a retired professor now, I don’t have to teach so I have time for Summer Schools! One will take place in the Dolomites, where the challenge will be a logistic one taking place in a factory. It will include robots moving packages around a warehouse.

Learn more about Duckietown

Duckietown enables state-of-the-art robotics and AI learning experiences.

It is designed to help teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Tell us your story

Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell?

Reach out to us!

Giulio Vaccari portrait - Politecnico di Milano

Spearheading Autonomy: Giulio Vaccari and the amazing AEA

Posted on January 25, 2024 | by Duckietown Admin

Giulio Vaccari tells us how he spearheaded Duckietown at the Milan Polytechnic through the AEA student association, to support autonomy research and networking.

Milan, February 29th: Giulio Vaccari, master student at the time of this interview, tells us how and why he spearheaded the use of Duckietown at the Polytechnic of Milan, one of the most important Italian engineering universities.

Quick links

Spearheading Autonomy: Giulio Vaccari and the amazing student Automation Engineering Association (AEA)

An interview with Giulio Vaccari from the Polytechnic University of Milan

Hello and welcome Mr. Giulio Vaccari! Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Giulio Vaccari, and I’m a master student at the Politecnico di Milano (“Polimi”). I am studying automation and control engineering and I am right now in the process of finishing my thesis with Duckietown. During my five years here, I founded the student Automation Engineering Association, focused on automation engineering. At the “Polimi” the course of control and automation engineer is not super big, now it’s getting bigger. More and more people are joining, but it’s still pretty small compared to, for example, computer science or other bigger courses. The idea of our association was to help with networking, help to understand what are future possible career paths as automation engineers. That’s why together with some friends we decided to found the association some years back.

Very interesting. How does Duckietown fit in all this?

It all started when I met and talked with Jacopo Tani and Vincenzo Polizzi I believe three years ago.

I had some friends, older friends, at ETH Zurich that introduced us to Duckietown as a possible project for our association, that at the time was still pretty small. We were newborn and we liked the idea of start working with Duckietown right away, because we were looking for a project that we could treat like a competition. It’s easier to get more people to know each other and network, when they have a common goal, as there are common topics to discuss.

I wanted something that would help us develop teamwork skills, something around which to build a strong team. Then this idea evolved a little bit and now we have a very focused and skilled team that works with aim of doing good at the Artificial Intelligence Driving Olympics (AI-DO). We did our first competition in 2021, in December, and it went well. Now we are improving. We are still working on it.

Could you tell us more about your team's experience with the AI-DO competition?

Sure! We ended up being finalist, I’m very proud of that! In the meantime, I talked with some professors to try to get some help to improve what we were doing with Duckietown, to have some suggestions on what we should focus on. I was lucky enough to meet a Professor, now my thesis advisor, who had already heard about Duckietown and liked it. I was very happy that we were able to bring Duckietown to the Politecnico of Milano. Although the AI-DO are over now, I’m still doing related work, so I’m able to help the team do better while working on my thesis. Duckietown is now part of the laboratory for autonomous driving here at PoliMi, and I feel like managing to get Duckietown to be adopted by the Politecnico di Milano is a pretty big thing that I’m still proud of!

And you should be! Do you use Duckietown also in the activities of the association?

When it comes to the association, we are focused on AI. We have a team of around 20 people working on different things. We use Duckietown also to do outreach when we have, for example, “associations days”, which are open days when students from high schools come and visit the University. That’s when we showcase Duckietown to show both what we do as an association but also what a control engineer is supposed to do, because it’s very difficult to explain otherwise.

What do you like about Duckietown? Why do you think it is useful for what you do?

Through Duckietown, it’s very easy to implement ideas in the real world. Usually if you need to build something like that from scratch, it will be super difficult. There are a lot of failure points, while with Duckietown we can just deploy it and it just works. This is super cool. We can also test a lot of different control strategies with very low effort. I mean, just the fact of writing the control algorithm, deploying it and it just works is huge. So this makes things super easy. Duckietown is very friendly and easy to use. It’s not something you often see in robotics, which is instead usually very complicated and intimidating. Yes, very intimidating. And Duckietown is even very friendly looking, and this is definitely a big plus!

Do you think people that are using Duckietown, are satisfied with it?

Yes, we had really positive feedback. I mean, everyone is really happy to work with Duckietown and we had so many people applying that we had to limit the team size because that would’ve made it very difficult to manage all those people. So I would say it had a very positive impact in general on the association. People are generally enthusiastic to just see the robots going around.

There are a lot of failure points in robotics, while with Duckietown we deploy our algorithms and it just works. This is super cool. We can test a lot of different control strategies with very low effort.

Giulio Vaccari

Would you suggest it to colleagues or other student associations?

Yes, for sure. But I see that it’s not only our team; also the Professor that I’m working with is very happy to be able to use it, also as a benchmark for different controls. There are other universities that have their very specific tracks to run their robots, while with Duckietown, it’s super easy to test like, the same strategy in different environments, but still with the same basics. This is a very positive thing also for the university.

Thank you very much for taking the time, we appreciated your story very much! Is there anything else you would like to add?

Right now I’m working on a different subject. So I’m using still Duckietown, but not in a city environment, but in a racing environment. My objective is to set up a racing track and have two robots compete against each other. They are still not competing, but we are getting close. It’s very nice that together with the Duckietown team, we are working on the urban environment, using different kind of materials to create these racing environments. I think it’s very cool.

There are also some issues every now and then. Maybe something that is not super easy to find, something that is very in depth, some APIs. If you want to use them, you need to dive deep. There is a support Slack channel though, and it’s super easy to ask for help. This too I believe is very nice and just adds to the positive experience.

Special Giulio Vaccari content!

We found in our archives the video submission of Giulio Vaccari and his team at AEA on the occasion of the 2021 AI Driving Olympics finals. In this fun, short, video team PoliMi explains the rationale and challenges faced in developing an ML-based agent for the 2021 competition!

Learn more about Duckietown

The Duckietown platform enables state-of-the-art robotics and AI learning experiences. It is designed to help teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Tell us your story

Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell?

Reach out to us!

Professor Peter Affolter of BFH portrait

Driving autonomy education at BFH with Prof. Affolter

Posted on November 24, 2023 | by Duckietown Admin

Bern, Switzerland: Prof. Peter Affolter, Head of the automotive department at Berner Fachhochschule (BFH), shares his experience creating a curriculum in autonomy education with Duckietown. Quick links Bern University of Applied Science Prof. Peter Affolter @ BFH Prof. Peter Affolter Driving autonomy

Bern, Switzerland: Prof. Peter Affolter, Head of the automotive department at Berner Fachhochschule (BFH), shares his experience creating a curriculum in autonomy education with Duckietown.

Quick links

Driving autonomy education with Duckietown

Prof. Affolter at the Bern University of Applied Sciences introduces autonomy education in the automotive curriculum

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. I'd like to start by asking you to introduce yourself, and tell us who you are and what you do.

Certainly! My name is Peter Affolter. I am at the head of the automotive department at the Bern University of Applied Science. I work as a lecturer in autonomous driving, vehicle communications, and related areas.

How did you get to know Duckietown?

The first time I saw it was probably two or three years ago. I came across it by chance while Googling on the internet. I was looking for information about lessons and classes on autonomous driving, a very complicated topic. I was searching for an easy platform, especially hardware, to simulate a simple vehicle. Then, I stumbled upon Duckietown. Initially, it looked a bit childish, but I was surprised by its concept, quality, and comprehensive documentation, including lessons slides for this complex theory. I decided to focus on Duckietown, especially on the massive online open course hosted on edX [Self-Driving Cars with Duckietown]. I also really enjoyed the great support from all the stakeholders and universities involved in this initiative.

Did you find the "Self-Driving Cars with Duckietown", the massive open online course (MOOC) on edX, helpful?

Yes, at that time, there was only the archive available on edX.org, and I registered there. I couldn’t participate in real-time, but I went through the materials myself. I also contacted the Duckietown staff, and they provided me with support and missing documents. I adapted the content for my own class, focusing on bachelor-level students, parallel to the massive online open course from edX.

Very interesting, so you adapted the materials for your course. How did you set up the class, did you find any challenges?

It was clear to me that I could introduce our students, future automotive engineers, to autonomous driving. I wanted to give them an overview of the potential, limits, obstacles, and areas needing progress. Since they were not programmers or IT technologists, I needed to simplify it. I decided to conduct whole-class courses using video material from the MOOC. I adapted the quizzes and provided them with virtual machines, avoiding Linux and network issues. They could use the vehicles hosted on the BFH server farm through a browser terminal, even utilizing the Duckiebots. It became an infrastructure for exercises from simulation to reality, based on Duckietown classes.

How did the teaching experience go?

The first class had potential for improvement, but we adopted a flipped classroom approach with four lessons a week for 16 weeks. Students studied theory at home, and class time was for exercises, discussions, and additional explanations. The students enjoyed it, and while they didn’t grasp every detail, they felt proud and motivated. There’s still plenty of room for improvement in the next classes. They grasped the feeling and had the chance to work on neural networks, image manipulations, and more. I made good progress, and there’s still plenty of material to explore and implement in future classes.

Honestly, I haven't found another hardware platform as good as Duckietown for my needs. It's a simple platform with a fun approach, well-documented, and with a really reactive community. Even compared to other commercial products, Duckieown stands out. It fulfills all the needs from beginners to experts.

Prof. Peter Affolter, Head of Automotive Dept. at BFH

What were your overall impressions introducing autonomy education to your students with Duckietown?

Honestly, I haven’t found another hardware platform as good as Duckietown for my needs. It’s a simple platform with a fun approach, well-documented, and with a really reactive community. Even compared to other commercial products, Duckietown stands out. It fulfills all the needs from beginners to experts.

Thank you again for sharing your experience with us. Best of luck in your next classes!

Learn more about Duckietown

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Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell?

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Practical and playful: Duckietown talks with Prof. Donoso

Posted on October 11, 2023 | by Duckietown Admin

Félix Donoso, Associate Professor at Duoc UC uses Duckietown to teach his students about the science and technology of autonomy in a practical and playful way.

Santiago de Chile, 17 October 2023: Learn how Félix Donoso H., Associate Professor at the School of Computer Science and Telecommunications at the Duoc UC Professional Institute, utilized the Duckietown platform to engage with students and teach them complex concepts in a practical and playful way.

Quick links

Practical and playful, an interview with Prof. Donoso

Hi! Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Félix Donoso H. I hold a Master’s degree in Education, specializing in Teaching for Higher Education. I am also an Engineer in Connectivity and Networks and have a Diploma in Applied Research and Innovation. I have been working in higher education for 8 years. Currently, I am an Associate Professor at the School of Computer Science and Telecommunications at the Duoc UC Professional Institute. I am involved in various projects at the Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer.

We read on the DUOC website about your Duckietown class, could you tell us a little more about it?

At the Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer of the School of Computer Science and Telecommunications at DuocUC, we have recently implemented Duckietown to offer our students hands-on experience in robotics and autonomous vehicles. The workshops are designed to teach fundamental concepts of control, computer vision, and machine learning, using the Duckietown platform to provide a hands-on and cutting-edge yet accessible experience.

What is the pedagogical focus of your learning activities?

The pedagogical approach is and will be eminently practical and collaborative. We want students to not only understand theoretical concepts but also apply them in a real environment. Collaboration among students is essential, fostering teamwork and problem-solving in a practical context.

How did you learn about Duckietown?

I learned about Duckietown during a robotics course at the University of Chile. The platform was presented as an innovative educational tool, and I was intrigued by its potential to teach complex concepts in an accessible and attractive way.

What is the thing you liked most about using Duckietown in your class?

What I liked most about using Duckietown was the ability to bring abstract concepts to real life. Students were able to see how their algorithms and codes work in a tangible and entertaining environment, making the concepts easier to understand and more appealing.

How did your students react to the course?

The students responded very positively.
The practical and playful nature of the course allowed them to actively engage
in learning, and many expressed that the experience with Duckietown has been
one of the most memorable in their education.

Pablo Zapata, a fourth-year student of Computer Engineering and one of the project members, highlights that “my experience has been incredible, as I entered an area that is not part of our curriculum, and for this reason, we have learned to build robots and work with different components. This project has surprised me a lot because of the
technology we are using, and at the same time, it has greatly enriched us over
time.”

On the other hand, Néstor Carvacho, a second-year student in the Computer Programmer Analyst career, points out that “I have been able to work with cutting-edge technology and, with it, learn new work tools that are not part of my career; like Linux, which will help me
in my future work.”

Duckietown has allowed students from different campuses of the school of computer science and telecommunications at Duoc UC to immerse themselves in the world of robotics and autonomous vehicles, Linux, ROS, and Python, in an accessible and exciting way.

Félix Donoso H.

How would you recommend we improve the platform?

Although the platform is excellent, it could benefit from more resources and tutorials aimed at different levels of experience. It would also be helpful to have more examples of projects and applications in different fields to inspire students and showcase the versatility of the platform.

Would you like to add anything else?

I would just like to emphasize how valuable the Duckietown platform has been to our institution. It has allowed students from different campuses of the school of computer science and telecommunications at Duoc UC to immerse themselves in the world of robotics and autonomous vehicles, Linux, ROS, and Python, in an accessible and exciting way. I am eager to see how the platform evolves and how we can continue to use it in the future with the practical challenges we are preparing.

Learn more about Duckietown

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There’s MAGIC in Westminster: innovating and cultivating, an interview with Graham Dodge

Posted on September 4, 2023 | by Federico Tani

Westminster, Maryland: MAGIC and Duckietown partner to bring robot autonomy education in Westminster, MD.

The Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory (MAGIC) was awarded funding from the Knorr-Bremse Global Care program in July of 2022 to launch an Autonomous Robotics Innovation Center (ARIC) in the heart of downtown Westminster.

Their goal for ARIC is to use the Duckietown platform to give Westminster students industry-relevant skills and hands-on experience that will prepare them for careers or further learning in robotics and engineering.

Quick links

Bringing industry relevant skills and hands-on experience to high school and undergrad students

We are very pleased to announce our partnership with MAGIC, bringing the Duckietown platform to Carroll County students and introducing the local community to robotics and AI technology.

MAGIC is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization headquartered in Westminster, MD, USA. Their mission is to build a technological ecosystem that creates and nurtures talent, entrepreneurship, and tech businesses, elevating the Westminster Gigabit community to lead the Mid-Atlantic region.

We talked with Graham Dodge, Executive Director of MAGIC, to know more about their new Autonomous Robotics Innovation Center (ARIC) project and how Duckietown is being used in this context.

Hi! Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Graham Dodge. I’m the executive director of Magic Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Maryland, United States. We focus on technology, education, and workforce development within our community.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Graham. How did you learn about Duckietown?

I was speaking with the CEO of a local company called Dynamic Dimension Technologies. We were discussing our autonomous corridor project in the city of Westminster, Maryland. He recommended using Duckietown as a platform to demonstrate some of the technologies to local elected officials and stakeholders. After seeing videos of Duckietown on their website, I was impressed by its user-friendly and cute approach to making technology accessible to people unfamiliar with computer vision and robotics. It seemed like a perfect way to explain these concepts to our community.

Very interesting! What are you using Duckietown for?

Initially, we used Duckietown to demonstrate autonomous technologies for our corridor project. However, we later secured funding and set up the Autonomous Robotics Innovation Center (ARIC), where we now use Duckietown for a broader robotics program. In ARIC, we teach students ROS, Python, Linux, and the documentation that comes along with Duckietown. Additionally, we plan to integrate railroad intersections with Duckietown, thanks to grant funding from Knorr-Bremse Global Care program in Germany, a train parts manufacturer involved in autonomous train systems.

“We’re seeing that students with very minimal computer science education can jump right into Duckietown and excel”.

Graham Dodge

That’s impressive, so you are integrating Duckietown with a rail system?

Yes, we are considering names like Duckierail or Duckietrains. This project aims to develop open-source solutions for Duckiebots to interact with trains and railroad crossings. We are excited to collaborate with the Knorr-Bremse Global Care program, who provided the funding, to showcase rail systems in a smart, connected infrastructure with autonomous vehicles.

We can’t wait to see the developments! Are you satisfied with your experience with Duckietown so far?

Absolutely! We started with a small MOOC kit, and despite lacking an internal instructor, two student interns managed to get the Duckiebots up and running within three months. The hands-on experience has been rewarding for them, and it’s remarkable how much they’ve learned. We are now expanding the program and have plans to engage with local colleges as well.

That’s fantastic! So, do you see Duckietown as a valuable tool for education and career development in the robotics industry?

Yes, absolutely! Our goal is to set up an apprenticeship program for career pathway development. By providing students with hands-on experience through Duckietown, we aim to make them more attractive to local employers in the robotics industry. The students are already gaining valuable skills that match or even exceed those of some graduate students seeking internships with the same employers.

“We’ve had industry professionals and
local employers look at what we’re teaching and say that what our
high school interns are learning and building with Duckietown is more advanced – and
more industry relevant – than most of the undergraduate students they’ve seen”.

Graham Dodge

Learn more about Duckietown

The Duckietown platform enables state-of-the-art robotics and AI learning experiences.

It is designed to help teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Get Started with Duckietown!

Find out more use cases

Tell us your story

Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell? Reach out to us!

Robotics education and research at IIT Jodhpur: an interview with Prof. Debasis Das

Posted on June 7, 2023 | by Duckietown Admin

IIT Jodhpur, June 03, 2023: Prof. Debasis Das of IIT Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, tells us about his experience in bringing Duckietown to his lab to support the teaching, research, and outreach efforts of his team in the fields of autonomous vehicles, robotics, computer vision, machine learning.

Quick links

Robotics education and research at IIT Jodhpur: an interview with Prof. Debasis Das

Hello Professor Das, thank you for your time in taking our questions. How did you learn about Duckietown?

I learned about the Duckietown project through a variety of sources, including online platforms like social media, discussion forums, and academic publications, where many researchers and robotics enthusiasts have shared information related to the project. Additionally, some of my collaborators have also mentioned the project and its educational and research goals. Through these sources, I gained an understanding of what the Duckietown project is and the impact it has had in the field of robotics education and research.

This is great to hear! Starting from the education aspects, what classes are you teaching at IIT Jodhpur using Duckietown?

Duckietown is being used for a variety of classes and educational programs, primarily in the fields of computer science and engineering at IIT Jodhpur. Most recently we have utilized the platform to teach the following classes:

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks: This class focuses on the design, development, and testing of autonomous vehicles using the Duckietown platform to simulate real-world scenarios.

Robotics and Mobility: This class teaches students the principles of mobility and the role of machine learning for decision-making, using the Duckietown platform for practical exercises.

What has your and your students’ experience been in these courses?

We have found that hands-on learning experiences, such as those provided by Duckietown, are more effective in increasing students’ knowledge and capacity to recall topics than standard lecture-based teaching approaches.

Furthermore, the dynamic and fascinating elements unique to Duckietown increase students’ passion for and interest in their assignments.

We have received large positive feedback for Duckietown from students and researchers who have used it at IIT Jodhpur, with many appreciating its entertaining and challenging nature. The platform’s scalability and ease of use across a wide range of disciplines and programs are commendable. Students also appreciate the opportunity to learn programming and problem-solving with real-world robotics difficulties.

Though there may be some disparities in how each student utilizes the platform and what they gain in terms of education and enjoyment, the data thus far suggests that Duckietown can be a helpful and fun resource for students working in robotics and related fields.

"The Duckietown platform has been a valuable resource in supporting our research activities. We have used it as a tool for engaging with the broader community and promoting interest in science, technology, engineering, and STEM fields, including hosting workshops, competitions, and other events that showcase the capabilities of autonomous vehicles and provide opportunities for hands-on learning and exploration."

Prof. Debasis Das

Are you using Duckietown to support your research activities too?

Yes, the Duckietown platform has been a valuable resource in supporting our research activities. We have used the platform to test and evaluate novel algorithms and methods for autonomous vehicle design and control, and to investigate issues such as computer vision, machine learning, and control systems.

Are there other ways Duckietown has helped you conduct teaching, research, and outreach efforts?

We have used Duckietown as a tool for engaging with the broader community and promoting interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. We have hosted workshops, competitions, and other events that showcase the capabilities of autonomous vehicles and provide opportunities for hands-on learning and exploration.

Would you suggest Duckietown to your colleagues?

Yes, I would definitely recommend Duckietown to my colleagues who are interested in teaching and researching areas such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, computer vision, machine learning, and control systems.

Duckietown provides a realistic and scalable environment for testing and assessing novel algorithms and methods for autonomous vehicle design and control, as well as a platform for engaging students and the general public in learning and discovery in these domains.

"We have received large positive feedback for Duckietown from students and researchers who have used it at IIT Jodhpur, with many appreciating its entertaining and challenging nature. The platform's scalability and ease of use across a wide range of disciplines and programs are commendable."

Debasis Das

Learn more about Duckietown

The Duckietown platform enables state-of-the-art robotics and AI learning experiences.

It is designed to help teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Tell us your story

Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell? Reach out to us!

Shima Akbari graduates with Duckietown at La Sapienza University in Rome

Posted on April 23, 2023 | by Ivano Marocchi

“La Sapienza” University of Rome, April 28, 2023: Shima Akbari, a Ph.D. student at the Italian National Program in Autonomous Systems, shares her experience working with Duckietown for her master’s thesis on lane following control for mobile robots.

Quick links

Shima's work on control strategies for lane following

Hi, thank you for joining us today. Could you introduce yourself?

Certainly. My name is Shima Akbari, and I have a degree in Control Engineering from “La Sapienza” University of Rome. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student in the Italian National Program in Autonomous Systems.

You recently obtained your master’s degree, congratulations! You worked on lane following control approaches for mobile robots using Duckietown. How did you discover Duckietown?

I first learned about Duckietown while working on my master’s thesis. I have always been passionate about control and autonomy, particularly in mobile robots. However, I didn’t want to limit my project to theoretical calculations or computer simulations. I wanted to have a practical component to my work. When I shared this with my supervisor, Professor Oriolo, he introduced me to Duckietown and suggested that I conduct my experiments in this environment. So I implemented the lane following control in the Duckietown environment as part of my master’s thesis, using both the Duckietown simulator called Duckietown Gym, and the Duckiebots, which are the robots used in Duckietown. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of conducting my tests.

It’s great to hear you enjoyed working with Duckiebots! Tell us a little more about your project and what was your experience like.

My thesis focus was on computer vision based control. I used OpenCV, the well known computer vision library, and the camera mounted on the Duckiebots to extract lane lines from the streets in Duckietown. Based on information extracted from these features, I implemented control laws that enabled the Duckiebot to drive on the streets inside lanes.

To familiarize myself with the platform, I started by taking the Duckietown massive open online course on edX and completed the assignments and homework on my own. One of the modules was about implementing a PID controller for lateral position and another on steering rate control. I enjoyed the Braitenberg vehicles activity too, but my favorite project was on obstacle avoidance, obstacle detection, and computer vision.

"In engineering, true learning comes from practical implementation, and Duckietown offers that opportunity effectively."

Shima Akbari

You are studying in a field that is statistically dominated by male presence. What are your thoughts on this?

It’s indeed the case. According to recent statistics, only 16% of women are in engineering compared to 84% of men. While I acknowledge this disparity, I believe that women are just as capable as men in engineering or any other field. Moreover, I think that the situation is improving over time. If we look at statistics from 10 to 20 years ago, the percentage of women in engineering was even lower.

What would you say to a young woman who wants to study engineering and may be discouraged by the statistics?

I would tell her that statistics and other people’s opinions should not deter her from pursuing her interest in engineering or any other subject. She should follow her dreams and not be discouraged by external factors.

Thank you for this thought, we hope this interview will help it reach as many women thinking about pursuing engineering careers out there as possible.

Absolutely. I would recommend Duckietown to anyone interested in learning about autonomous systems, regardless of their background or gender. It provides an excellent opportunity to learn about autonomy and control in a practical and user-friendly way. In engineering, true learning comes from practical implementation, and Duckietown offers that opportunity effectively.

What would you consider to be the unique value or appeal of Duckietown? What makes it special?

I would say that the simplicity of Duckietown is its most appealing aspect. The robots are designed to be simple and easy to use, and working with them is a lot of fun. Additionally, Duckietown has excellent support, with comprehensive documentation and manuals that are written in a detailed, step-by-step manner. Even if you don’t have a strong background in tools like Linux or Docker, you can still make progress by reading and following the documentation

"Duckietown is simple and has excellent support, with comprehensive documentation and manuals that are written in a detailed, step-by-step manner. Even if you don't have a strong background in concepts like Linux or Docker, you can still make progress by reading and following the documentation."

Shima Akbari

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your experience with us, we really appreciate it. Is there anything else you would like to add?

I’d just like to express how amazing it was for me to be introduced to and work with Duckietown. I would highly recommend it to others as well.

Learn more about Duckietown

The Duckietown platform enables state-of-the-art robotics and AI learning experiences.

It is designed to help teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.

Tell us your story

Are you an instructor, learner, researcher or professional with a Duckietown story to tell? Reach out to us!

Nurturing future engineers and leaders with Kevin Smith

Quick links

Teaching robotics to nurture future engineers and leaders

Good morning Kevin! May I ask you to start by introducing yourself?

Very nice. We know you use Duckietown for some of your teaching activities, when did you first run into it?

How do you use drones to inspire your students?

Could you tell us more about the Drone Academy?

That is great, you make me want to join the next edition! Are there other programs at MassRobotics you would like to share with us?

It sounds awesome! Who is the target of the Jumsptart program?

Would you recommend Duckietown to colleagues and students?

Learn more about Duckietown

Tell us your story

Teaching robot autonomy at AGH Krakow with Prof. Długosz

Quick links

Increasing efficiency and saving time at the robot autonomy lab in AGH Krakow

Good morning and thank you for taking the time to be with us! Could you introduce yourself?

Thank you. When have you encountered Duckietown for the first time?

How do you use Duckietown in your activities?

Very interesting thank you. What is the age of the students you are teaching right now, and would you say the students are satisfied with Duckietown?

Did you encounter any challenges, problems or difficulties while using Duckietown?

Do you have anything else to add about your projects and experiences?

Would you recommend Duckietown to colleagues and students?

Learn more about Duckietown

Tell us your story

Dino Claro's Duckietown journey: from project to graduate thesis

Quick links

Duckinator: an Odometry pose-estimation for the Duckiebot robotic car platform

Hello and welcome Mr. Dino Claro! Could you introduce yourself?

Thanks for accepting to share your experience with us. When did you first run into Duckietown?

That's when you decided to use Duckietown?

Could you describe us your project?

Did you meet your objectives?

What where the challenges you encountered during your project?

What are your final considerations?

Thank you very much for taking the time, we appreciated your story very much! Is there anything else you would like to add?

Learn more about Duckietown

Tell us your story

Quick links

Failing successfully, an interview with Prof. Bruegge

Prof. Bruegge and the JASS 2023 summer camp

Good morning! Could you introduce yourself?

What can you tell us about this JASS school event that took place in Cyprus?

Is this a new functionality you added to the system?

That's fascinating! When did you first encounter Duckietown?

Prof. Bruegge, do you feel you achieved your objectives?

Is there anything else you would like to add?

That's a great suggestion, thanks! Do you think Duckietown can be useful for younger learners too?

Learn more about Duckietown

Tell us your story

Quick links

Spearheading Autonomy: Giulio Vaccari and the amazing student Automation Engineering Association (AEA)

An interview with Giulio Vaccari from the Polytechnic University of Milan

Hello and welcome Mr. Giulio Vaccari! Could you introduce yourself?

Very interesting. How does Duckietown fit in all this?

Could you tell us more about your team's experience with the AI-DO competition?

And you should be! Do you use Duckietown also in the activities of the association?

What do you like about Duckietown? Why do you think it is useful for what you do?

Do you think people that are using Duckietown, are satisfied with it?

Would you suggest it to colleagues or other student associations?

Thank you very much for taking the time, we appreciated your story very much! Is there anything else you would like to add?

Special Giulio Vaccari content!

Learn more about Duckietown

Tell us your story

Quick links

Driving autonomy education with Duckietown

Prof. Affolter at the Bern University of Applied Sciences introduces autonomy education in the automotive curriculum

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. I'd like to start by asking you to introduce yourself, and tell us who you are and what you do.

How did you get to know Duckietown?

Did you find the "Self-Driving Cars with Duckietown", the massive open online course (MOOC) on edX, helpful?

Very interesting, so you adapted the materials for your course. How did you set up the class, did you find any challenges?

How did the teaching experience go?

What were your overall impressions introducing autonomy education to your students with Duckietown?

Learn more about Duckietown

Tell us your story

Quick links

Practical and playful, an interview with Prof. Donoso

Hi! Could you introduce yourself?

We read on the DUOC website about your Duckietown class, could you tell us a little more about it?​

What is the pedagogical focus of your learning activities?

How did you learn about Duckietown?​

We read on the DUOC website about your Duckietown class, could you tell us a little more about it?

How did you learn about Duckietown?

What is the thing you liked most about using Duckietown in your class?

How did your students react to the course?

That’s fantastic! So, do you see Duckietown as a valuable tool for education and career development in the robotics industry?