Category: People

The people of Duckietown campaign posts.

Felix Donoso Duckietown POD

Practical and playful: Duckietown talks with Prof. Donoso

Posted on | 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.

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Happy students use Duckietown

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.
top view of duckiebots on a section of duckietown, rubber duckies scattered around, traffic signs
side view of duckiebots on a section of duckietown, rubber duckies scattered around, traffic signs
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.
Felix donoso and two colleagues kneeling behind a duckietown setting (duckietown, duckiebots, traffic signs)
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

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!
Read other Duckietown stories

Tell us your story

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

Reach out to us!

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

Posted on | 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.

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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.

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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 | 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.

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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.
VANET lab team at IIT Jodhpur - Prof. Debasis Das

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
Visit to Prof. Das Duckietown research lab at IIT Jodhpur

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.

Lab visit to VANET@IITJ - outreach effort using Duckietown

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.

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!

Shima Akbari graduates with Duckietown at La Sapienza University in Rome

Posted on | 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.

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!

University of Nevada: Professor Lei Yang uses Duckietown based RET​

Posted on | by Ivano Marocchi

University of Reno, March 7, 2023: Lei Yang, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of the University of Nevada in Reno shares with us his experience conducting a program called Research Experience for Teachers (RET) focused on “Integrating Big Data into Robotics”. 

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Professor Lei Yang tells us about conducting a Duckietown based Research Experience for Teachers

Professor Lei Yang shares with us his relationship with Duckietown and how it performed used in a K-12 teachers research experience led by the Computer Science and Engineering department of the University of Nevada in Reno.

Good morning Professor and thank you for finding the time to speak to me.

Good morning, thank you.

How did you come across Duckietown the first time? When did you discover it?

Well, we needed a specific platform for our project, and a collaborator from Europe told us about this platform he was very familiar with. He let us know that it was a great platform, and that we should have a look at it. We accepted and ended up using Duckietown and suiting it to our project.

Could you tell us more about this project?

For three years now at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Computer Science and Engineering department (CSE) we’ve been conducting a program called Research Experience for Teachers (RET) focused on “Integrating Big Data into Robotics”. It’s a six-week course, through which participants can gain hands-on robotics experience that can be later applied in classrooms, in a fun way. The main idea is trying to provide a research experience to K-12 teachers. That’s why we proposed the idea of using Duckietown to teach K-12 teachers. We asked ourselves. what is the state of the art in terms of data analytics, machine learning? I think Duckietown is a very good education platform for teachers. We make use of the very good materials provided by Duckietown and I’m very satisfied with its implementation.
We purchased a Duckietown set for each participant and let them bring the hardware back to their school. Some teachers started their very own robotics clubs! They basically utilize that as an additional platform for their students.

What would you say are the characteristics of Duckietown that make it useful for you?

Our RET program involves all K-12 teachers, and one of the main goals of our program is to work with these teachers to develop curriculum modules suitable for their students. We have teachers from different levels, but we find that actually middle school and high school teachers are kind of more suited for this program. Duckietown is freely available and includes curricula that can be adapted for all levels of education. It is tangible, it is accessible,  and looks fun!

"I think Duckietown is a very good education platform for teachers. We make use of the very good materials provided by Duckietown and I’m very satisfied with its implementation."

Prof. Lei Yang

It’s also easy to deal with. We can find all the materials online, and it is hands-on as I already mentioned. People like hands on activities, it’s good for kids. The duckies also serve to present robotics as less intimidating, making it easier to teach the harder, underlying concepts. I think that’s very nice: it can be used to teach optimization, control theory, these are fundamental things. I think this is a platform that can suit people with different levels of background and also an easy way to start one’s journey into robotics.

What does the future hold?

I think we’ve done a great job this year, and the teachers liked our project. I can see a significant improvement compared to the first year. This is a three-year project, so this year was the last for the program. After the program expired, we submitted another proposal to continue utilizing Duckietown, and to integrate new things like blockchain technology and other new ideas into this program so hopefully we’ll be using this platform in the future 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.

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!

How Duckietown set “Frank” Chude Qian on the path to autonomous vehicles

Posted on | by Ivano Marocchi

University of Toronto, February 3, 2022: “Frank” Chude Qian, A Master Student at the University of Toronto, shares with us his experience with Duckietown.

Quick links

How Duckietown set Chude (Frank) Qian on the road to autonomous vehicles

“Frank” Chude Qian is a Master’s student at the University of Toronto. He first encountered Duckietown at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in 2019, and from that moment he decided that autonomous vehicles would have been his path forward.

Hello and thank you so much for having accepted to have this brief chat with us! Tell us about yourself and what you do.

Definitely! My name is Frank, and I’m currently a student at the University of Toronto. I’m in the second year of my program. I started as an Engineering Master’s student, and then I switched over to a Master of Science. My main focus is on developing the second generation of the University of Toronto’s autonomous vehicles that participate in the SAE Auto Drive Challenge. My work will end with the transition to the new vehicle, which will happen next year.

Thank you. Could you describe to us your first approach with Duckietown?

Yeah, definitely. So I was actually at ICRA 2019 wandering around and figuring out what to do with my life. I was taking part in another competition where I saw the Duckietown setup at the ICRA challenge [AI-DO 2]. It looked like great fun, I really loved the idea of how the project is and how it’s designed as a global initiative. You have people from different parts of the world trying to do the same thing, which I found inspiring.

Compared to the actual large-scale autonomous vehicles, Duckietown is an affordable option to learn mobility, and I really liked it. After I came back from ICRA, I just started looking at Duckietown and the AI Driving Olympics competition in more detail.

Frank Chude Qian and Jacopo Tani at Ai-DO 2, ICRA 2019

Nice! And how did that go?

In 2019, I started looking into what we could do with Duckiebots at my at Case Western Reserve University, where I was doing my undergrad studies. After learning about the AI-DO challenges, I was like, well, I’ll give it a try! It’s a challenge. I’m pretty competitive. So it took some trying and it ended up, I would say, good enough for where I was back then.

The other thing I looked into was Duckietown’s large code base for demonstrations because I was mainly working on answering the question: “what can you do with limited computing power for a system?”. I tested out the demos, and the Autolab idea, and tried to work on some improvements.

Back in 2019, there wasn’t a lot of work being done on that, unfortunately, but a good part of what was available had been tested, and the documentation was well-proofread. I then took over as a team lead for University of Toronto’s Autonomous Vehicle team, a role less involved with the project, but I still used Duckietown as a great introduction idea, of course.

We have a lot of students who are joining our team with almost no background in autonomous driving, and the Duckietown materials serve as a very good introduction idea to basically educate the younger students on the concept of autonomous vehicles.

Another thing I must say I learned a lot from is the Duckietown challenge and the evaluation side of the AI Driving Olympics, the evaluation server, and the idea of automated evaluation. I think I really gained a lot of experience and knowledge in testing and evaluating thanks to the Duckietown project.

Also along the way, I did another course project on a new baseline for the AI Driving Olympics or for what we call the conditional behavior cloning baseline. So that became another cross-project.

"It’s not only the cost-effectiveness but also the scalability of Duckietown and the potential it has to make a difference in key industrial sectors of the future."

"Frank" Chude Qian

It is great to hear that Duckietown helped you get comfortable with real self-driving cars. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Actually, yes. I know Duckietown is also planning on expanding its materials to the K-12 education side of things. I think that’s a great idea to get more students and younger folks excited about autonomous vehicles. And I think that one day autonomous vehicles will be more and more popular on the road, and the job market for developing and maintaining autonomous vehicles is going to be huge.

I really like the effort, and in fact, that’s probably something I’ll try to do: once I graduate from my current program, I’ll try to hop back on and further the development effort of expanding it to K-12 education.

Would you recommend Duckietown to students or colleagues?

Yeah, definitely! And I want to even sort of move it a step further.: for those students who want to get into autonomous vehicle research or development, but maybe their university doesn’t have much funding support for these kinds of programs, Duckietown is such a great project to just adopt.

You just start with the initial concept, and I’ve seen amazing research done thanks to Duckietown. I personally tried a couple of ideas, too. The one thing Duckietown can provide that nothing else can, as far as I can tell, at the same cost range is the development of multi-robot collaboration and the swarm robotics idea.

I think both of these features just provide great advantages for researchers and for students. You know, it’s a Jetson Nano plus some hardware. Or you can use the Raspberry Pi version. I think for students in the universities which don’t provide as much funding this could be a great starting point. And I personally learned so much throughout those projects, and ultimately that lead me to where I am today. So, yeah, definitely I would recommend it.

What would you say is the biggest quality of Duckietown?

I think from my experience with the AI-DO, it’s not only the cost effectiveness, but also the scalability of Duckietown and the potential it has to make a difference in key industrial sectors of the future.

Thank you very much!

Note from the editors: a few months after this interview, Frank started working as Software Simulation Developer at General Motors. Congratulations, Frank!

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.

Find out more use cases
Get Started with Duckietown!

Tell us your story

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

Introduction to robotics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell using Duckietown

Posted on | by Ivano Marocchi

University of Massachusetts, Lowell, December 20, 2022: Paul Robinette, Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML), shares with us his Duckietown teaching experience.

Introduction to robotics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell using Duckietown

Paul Robinette is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He shares his experience, and that of his students, using Duckietown for teaching throughout the years. His “Fundamentals of Robotics” (EECE 4560/5560) course with Duckietown platform has been repeating since 2019.
Quick links
Paull Robinette and Duckietown

Thank you for finding the time to talk with us! Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Paul Robinette [Linkedin] and I’m a Professor of computer engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell [website].

When was your first experience with Duckietown? 

My first experience with Duckietown would have been when I worked at MIT as a research scientist, just after Duckietown was run. I didn’t have a chance to see it live there, but I did talk with several of the postdocs who worked on it as it ran. I also saw it live for the first time at ICRA 2019.

Do you use Duckietown or did you use Duckietown in the past for some specific project or activity?

Sure! For the last three years, I’ve been using Duckietown robots in my class every semester. Primarily I use the Duckiebots to teach ROS and basic robot skills through the Duckietown system and infrastructure. I leverage the development infrastructure heavily and some of the course materials as well.

That sounds great! Can you tell us more about your ongoing class?

The class I teach every semester so far is called Fundamentals of Robotics [2022 class page], and we go over the basics of robotics, starting with multi-agent processing or multi-process systems, like most robots are these days, some basic networking problems, etc. The Duckiebots are perfect for that because they have Docker containers on board which have multiple different networks running. They have to work with the computer system, so it’s always at least interfacing with the laptop. The robots can be used with a laptop, with a router, you can have multiple robots out at once, and they give the students a really good sense of what moving real robots around feels like. We have students start by implementing some open loop control systems, then have them design their own lane detector, similar to the Duckietown [perception] demo, and then have them design their own lane controller again, similar to the Duckietown [lane following] demo.

Are your students appreciating using Duckietown? Would you consider it a success?

Yes, especially the newer version. The DB21s are great robots for using their class applications and infrastructure. The software infrastructure has made it pretty easy to set up our own Git repositories for the robots and be able to run them. In this way, students can run them at home or on campus.

Would you suggest Duckietown to your students or colleagues?

Yes, I’d suggest Duckietown, especially if people want to run an introductory robotics class and have every student purchase their own robot, or have the University provide the robots for all. Duckietown is much more affordable than any other robot system that could be used for this same purpose.

"In my class we go over the basics of robotics, starting with multi-agent processing or multi-process systems, like most robots are these days, and the Duckiebots are perfect for that"

Prof. Paul Robinette

It is great to hear Duckietown addresses your needs so well. What would you say is the advantage that Duckietown has when compared to other systems?

I’d say the expense is probably the biggest advantage right now. It’s a nice platform and very capable for what we wanted to do. At this point, the fact that it’s affordable for students to purchase on their own or for us to purchase a bunch of them is definitely the biggest advantage for us. You guys also have a really quick response time if we have any problems. It’s nice to be able to talk directly with the development team and work with them to set up the systems so that I can run them in my class as I need to.

Thank you very much for your time!

Learn more about Duckietown

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

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

Find out more use cases
Get Started with Duckietown!

Tell us your story

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

The Duckietown path to robotics: an interview with Prof. Francesco Maurelli

Posted on | by Ivano Marocchi

Jacobs University, Bremen, June 1, 2022: Francesco Maurelli, professor at the Jacobs University of Bremen, talks about how Duckietown impacted his work and his academic career.

The Duckietown path to robotics: an interview with Prof. Francesco Maurelli

Francesco Maurelli, professor at the Jacobs University of Bremen, Germany, shares in the interview below his interaction with Duckietown.

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Let’s start by simply asking your name, who you are, where you work, what you do for a living.

Hi, Federico. Hi, everyone. I am Francesco Maurelli and I’m a professor in robotics at Jacobs University in Bremen.

When was the first time you came across Duckietown in your life? Describe your first contact with Duckietown for us.

Well, that was in my team. I was there as a Marie Curie scholar from Europe. I met Andrea and Liam, and learned about this new initiative. I was interested so I spoke in depth with them and with the students who took the course. I then looked at the videos and thought it was a great setup because it brings robotics closer to the students in a fun way by reducing the access barrier. Many people think that robotics is very hard, which is true. I’m not saying it’s easy, but on the other hand, there are easier paths to access robotics. Additionally the element of gamification makes people happy when they work with Duckietown. I found that students want to get involved regardless of the course work, they just like the concept.

Thank you. Is there a specific thing that maybe you did using Duckietown in your life, a project, a program or some sort of ecosystem? 

We have had three different initiatives based on Duckietown.

The first one, called Jacobs Robotics, was an extracurricular activity for students. I would meet interested students outside of class time, it wasn’t linked to academic credit. It was just for fun and for learning. Among the different robotics platforms, we had a group working on Duckietown. This was the initial step in using Duckietown at our university.

Then the second step was to embed Duckietown in the official curriculum. We have a bachelor’s program in robotics and intelligence systems, and I’m its program manager. We were rewriting and updating some parts of it as we underwent a new wave of accreditation. So I took the opportunity to redesign some aspects of the program and in this process decided to embed Duckietown at Bachelor level. I’ve introduced it at Ross Lab in simulation in the fall of the second year, in the third semester, and then we have a robotics project based on Duckietown in the spring, ofthe second year, (i.e. in the fourth semester). That means that when students start their third year, they already have an understanding of ROS, they have knowledge of Duckietown and they work with real systems. This means that they can do a much better thesis, even if it’s a Bachelor level, we can improve the average level. When I joined the University, the first month of the thesis was lost on students learning to use Ross, for example. Now we are a step ahead.

The third part is the research application. It’s not only a matter of having fun with students, or delivering courses to students, but also doing my own research. I have a project which is funded by the German Research Foundation, DFG, it is in collaboration with the psychology Department. The psychologists want to look at the characteristics that humans assign to entities to identify the “self”. We as roboticists are going to develop and program different robotic behaviors, which the behavioral scientist from the psychology department will analyze. In a nutshell, we will prepare different videos illustrating the same actions performed in different ways. A very basic example would be moving in a city at constant speed or moving in a city at variable speeds. Our partners in the psychology department will show these videos to the study participants and collect user feedback through questionnaires to determine which behaviors they think are more alike a self determined behavior.

This is extremely interesting. Thank you very much. Have you ever heard about the MOOC course?

Yes, actually. In fact I suggested to our students to look at the MOOC. Of course, it is set up in a different way with respect to our course, but it can be and it has been a useful tool for students to review some of the material through a different viewpoint. So it’s definitely a valuable learning material which is available to the community.

"It's not only a matter of having fun with students, or delivering courses to students, but also doing my own research."

Francesco Maurelli

Okay. My last question is would you suggest Duckietown to other people, colleagues or your students? And why?

Absolutely. I see that from my own experience, students like it and they learn a lot about robotics. All the different concepts ranging from control to localization to computer vision can be applied in Duckietown. So in our projects, in our robotics projects, different groups of students develop different ideas. And I see that they are enjoying themselves and they are learning. So it’s definitely a plus.

Thank you very much.

Learn more about Duckietown

The Duckietown platform offers robotics and AI learning experiences.

Duckietown is modular, customizable and state-of-the-art. It is designed to teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of knowledge.

Find out more use cases
Get Started with Duckietown!

Tell us your story

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

When rubber duckies meet the road: an interview with Prof. Liam Paull

Posted on | by Ivano Marocchi

UdM, Montréal, May 5, 2022: Liam Paull, professor at the University of Montreal and one of Duckietown’s founders, talks about his role and experiences with Duckietown.

When rubber duckies meet the road: an interview with Prof. Liam Paull

Liam Paull, professor at the University of Montreal in Quebec, and one of the very founders of Duckietown, shares below his unique perspective about Duckietown’s journey and its origin.

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Good morning, Liam.

Hello.

Thank you very much for accepting to have this little chat.
Could you tell us something about you?

Sure. So my name is Liam Paull. I’m a professor at the University of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. I teach in the computer science Department, And I do research on robotics.

Ok and when was the first time you “came across” Duckietown?

Well, I’m actually one of the creators of Duckietown, So I didn’t come across it as much! The origin story of Duckietown is kind of interesting, But I probably forgot some of the details. It must have been about 2015. And myself, Andrea Censi, and a few others were interested to get more teaching experience. We were all postdocs or research scientists at MIT at the time. I guess we started brainstorming ideas, and then roughly around that time, I switched positions at MIT. I was previously a postdoc in John Leonard’s group working on marine robotics, and then I switched to become part of Danielle Lerous lab and lead an autonomous driving project. And so somehow the stars just aligned. That the right topic for this class that we would teach would be autonomous driving. Yeah, the Ducky thing is kind of a separate thing. Actually, Andrea had started this other thing that was making videos for people to publicize their work at a top robotics conference Called the international conference robotics automation, and somehow had the idea that every single video that was submitted should have a rubber Ducky in it. And this was for scale or something.
There was some kind of reason behind it I sort of forget. But anyway, so the branding kind of caught fire.
When we were building the class, we agreed the one constraint was that there should be duckies involved somehow, and the rest is kind of history!

What’s your relationship with Duckietown today? Like, do you use it in particular for some activities, your daily work or some project? Yeah, for sure. I guess I use it in a number of ways. Maybe the first way is that I teach a class every fall called autonomous vehicles, Where the Duckietown platform is the platform that we use for the experiments and labs in the class. So just like the original class, Every student gets a robot that they assemble, and then we learn about computer vision and autonomous driving and all the good stuff related to robotics. But I also use the platform for some amount of research. Also in my group, I believe that there’s a lot of interesting research directions that come from a kind of standardized, small scale, accessible autonomous driving platform like this. Recently, most of the work that we’ve been doing in terms of research has been about training agents in simulation and then deploying them in the real world. So this isa nice setup for that because we have a simulator that’s very easy, fast and lightweight to train in, and then we have the environment that’s also really accessible. So, yeah, so we’ve been doing some research on that front.
So would you recommend Duckieown to colleagues or students of yours? And if yes, why. Of course. I think that’s what’s nice. Going back to the original motivation behind building Duckietowng and some of the tenets: thee guiding principle for us was this idea that to learn robotics, you have to get your hands on a robot. And we are also very adamant that it should be that every student should have their own robot. With teams of robots or going into the lab and only being able to use the robot at certain hours. It’s something funny.
You don’t develop the same kind of personal relationship. It sounds weird, but it’s true. Like when you have your own thing that you’re working with every day, you have some kind of bond with that thing, and you develop some kind of love or hate or whatever the case may be depending on how things are going on that particular day. So I think that with this set up, we have a platform where we’ve scaled things down and made things cost effective, to be able to do that. We built an engaging, experimental platform where it’s totally, I think, reasonable for most University budgets to be able to get their hands on the hardware.

"I believe that there's a lot of interesting research directions that come from a standardized, small scale, accessible autonomous driving platform like Duckietown."

Liam Paull
The other big piece is the actual teaching materials that we’ve developed. And I think that we have some good stuff. It could be better. Some stuff could be better, but that’s where we also need the community to come in. I mean, if we have this standardized platform and lots of people start using it and building educational experiences around the platform, then the entire thing just starts to get better and better for everybody. And it just grows into a very nice thing where you can also pick and choose the pieces that you want to include for your particular class, and you can customize the experience of what your class is going to look like using all of the resources that are out there. Also, the other part that I’ve really tried to cultivate, this is sort of a new thing. When we ran the first class at MIT, it was really an isolated thing. But in the subsequent iterations of the class, like myself and others have been in different places around the world, whether it’s Matt Walter at TTIC or Jacopo and Andrea at ETH. So we tried to turn the class into this kind of global experience, where you feel like you’re part of something that’s bigger than just the class that you’re taking at the specific University. And I think students really like that. We’ve experimented with different models where people do projects with other students from other universities or even just feeling part of the global community. I think it’s a very fun and engaging. Students are so connected these days. They’re so plugged in. They like this aspect of feeling like there’s a bit more of a broad social aspect, too. So I think these are some of the elements that this platform project experience brings to the table that I don’t see replicated and too many other setups.

Anything else you would like to add about Duckietown and it’s uses?

I didn’t mention specifically about the MOOC. One of the core missions of this project from the onset has been that it’s accessible. Both in terms of hardware but also in terms of software. And part of what that means to us Is that no matter where you are, no matter who you are, you should be able to get the hardware and you should be able to use the educational resources to learn. And part of the motivation for that Was that we saw that while we were at MIT. When you’re at a place like MIT you are extremely privileged and if you come from a background of less privilege, you see the discrepancy. In some sense, it’s palpable. Part of that, I guess, was that we don’t even necessarily want it to be a prerequisite that students should be enrolled in universities in order to be able to address the platform. So we built this massive online open source course through edx, which is also an open source provider Where people can, regardless of their background or regardless of their situation, they can sign up for this thing, and it’s a creative set of materials that also have exercises to interact with the robot that anybody can do, Regardless of whether they’re at a University or not.
I think this is the next step for us in making the platform accessible to all, and we’re going to continue to run iterations of this thing. But I also think that this is an exciting objective that very much fits in the mission of what we’re trying to do with this project.

This was great thank you for your time!

Awesome. Great. Thank you for your time. Bye.

Learn more about Duckietown

The Duckietown platform offers robotics and AI learning experiences.

Duckietown is modular, customizable and state-of-the-art. It is designed to teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of knowledge.

Find out more use cases
Get Started with Duckietown!

Tell us your story

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

Learning Autonomy with Vincenzo Polizzi

Posted on | by Ivano Marocchi

ETHZ, Zurich, March 11, 2022: How Vincenzo discovered his true professional passion as a student using Duckietown.  

Learning Autonomy in practice with Vincenzo Polizzi

Vincenzo Polizzi studied robotics, systems and control at the Swiss Federal institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). Vincenzo shares below his experience with Duckietown. Starting off as a student, becoming a Teaching Assistant and onto how he uses Duckietown to power his own research as he moves from academia to industry.

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Could you tell us something about yourself?

I’m Vincenzo Polizzi , I studied automation engineering at the Politecnico di Milano, and I currently study robotics, systems and control at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich).

You use Duckietown. Could you tell us when you first came into contact with the project, and what attracted you to Duckietown?

Sure! I learned about Duckietown my first year during a master’s program at ETH, where there was a course called: “Autonomous mobility on demand, from car to fleet” where I saw these cars, these robots. And I asked myself “what is this thing?”. It seemed very interesting. The first thing that struck me was that it did not look theoretical, but clearly practical.

"It captures you with simplicity and then you stay for the complexity."

Vincenzo Polizzi

So the idea of a practical aspect interested you?

Yes, during the presentation, it was clear that the course was based on projects the student had to carry out, where one could practice what they had learned theoretically in other classes.
I come from a scientific high school, and I studied automation engineering in Milan. In both my study experiences, I was used to learning concepts theoretically. For example, in the control system for a plant you design on paper in university, you don’t really face the complexity of implementing it on a real object.

I have to say that I have always been very passionate about robotics and informatics. In fact, even in high school, I was building these little robots,I participated in the robotics competition Rome Cup held by Fondazione Mondo Digitale, and there were these robots that were similar in shape to those of Duckietown, but where the scientific content was completely different. So in Duckietown, I saw something similar to what I was doing in my free time. I wanted to see exactly how it was inside, and there I discovered a whole other world that is obviously much more scientific than what a normal high school student could imagine by themself. However, initially I was curious to see a course where one can practice all the knowledge they have gradually acquired. It is not just about writing an equation and finding a solution but making things work.

What is your relationship with Duckietown, how long have you been using it? How do you interact with the Duckietown ecosystem? How do you use it, what do you do with it?

These are interesting questions because I started as a student and then managed to see what’s behind Duckietown. I was attending the course Duckietown held at ETH in 2019. The class was limited to 30 students, I was really excited to be part of it. I met many excellent students there, some of whom I am still in touch with today.

When I started the course, I immediately told myself, “Duckietown is a great thing. If all universities used Duckietown, this would be a better world.” I liked the class a lot, then I also had the opportunity of being a TA. The TAship was an important step because I learned more than during the course. One thing is to live the experience as a student who has to take exams, complete various projects, etc. You need a deeper understanding to organize an activity. You have to take care of all the details and foresee the parts of the exercise that can be harder or simpler for the students. This experience helped me a lot. For example, I did an internship in Zurich where we had to develop a software infrastructure for a drone, and I found myself thinking, “wow this can be done with Duckietown, we can use the same technologies.” I noticed that even in the industry, often we see the use of the same technologies and tools that you can learn about thanks to Duckietown. Of course, maybe a company has its own customized tools, probably well optimized for its products. Perhaps it uses some other specific tool but let’s say you already know more or less what these tools are about. You know because in Duckietown, you have already seen how a robotics system should work and the pieces it is composed of. Duckietown has given me a huge boost with the internship and my Master’s thesis at NASA JPL. Consider that my thesis was on a system of multi drones, so I used, for example, Docker as a tool to simulate the different agents. With Duckietown, I acquired technical knowledge that I used in many other projects, including work.

Do you still use it today?

The last project I did with Duckietown is DuckVision. I know we could have thought of a better name. With one of my Duckietowner friends, Trevor Phillips, we enhanced the Duckiebot perception pipeline with another camera, a stereocamera made by Luxonis and Open CV called OAKD (OpenCV AI Kit with depth). This sensor is not just a simple camera, but it also mounts a VPU, Visual Processing Unit. Namely, it can analyze and make inferences on the images that the camera acquires onboard. It can perform object detection and tracking, gesture recognition, semantic segmentation, etc. There are plenty of models freely available online that can run on the OAK-D. We have integrated this sensor in the Duckietown ecosystem, using a similar approach used in the MOOC “Self-Driving Cars with Duckietown”, we created a small series of tutorials where you can just plug the camera on the robot, run our Docker container and have fun! With this project, we passed the first phase of the OpenCV AI Competition 2021. The idea behind the project was to increase the Duckiebot understanding of the environment, by using the depth information, the robot can have a better representation of its surroundings and so, for example, a better knowledge of its position. Also, in our opinion, the OAK-D in Duckietown can boost the research in autonomous vehicles and perception.
I would like to add something about the use of Duckietown, I have seen this project both as a student and from behind the scenes and I really understood that by using this platform you really learn a lot of things that are useful not only in the academic field but can also be very useful in the working environment with the practical knowledge that is often difficult to acquire during school. And in this regard I thought then given my history, I am Sicilian but I studied in Milan and then I went to Zurich, I asked myself what can I bring as a contribution of my travels, so I thought about using Duckietown in some universities here in Sicily in the universities of Palermo and Messina. And also, at the Polytechnic of Milan, for example, they have already begun to use it and have participated in the AIDO and have also placed well, they ended up among the finalists, so there is a lot of interest in this project.

Did you receive a positive response every time you proposed Duckietown?

Yes, and then there is a huge enthusiasm on the part of the students. I spoke with student associations first, then with the professors etc. but when the students see Duckietown for the first time, they are always really enthusiastic about using it.

"There is something that captures you in some way, and then just opens up a world when you start to actually see how all the systems are implemented. This is the nice thing in my opinion, you can decide the level of complexity you want to achieve."

Vincenzo Polizzi

The duck was a great idea!

Absolutely right! The duck was a great idea, yes. I like contrasts, you see a super simple friendly thing that hides a state-of-the-art robotics platform. Even in the students I saw this reaction, because the duck is the first thing you see, it looks like a game, something to play with, this is the first impact, then when you start you get curious. It captures you with simplicity and then you stay for the complexity.

Would you suggest Duckietown to friends and colleagues?

Sure! There is something that captures you and opens up a world when you start to see how all the systems are implemented. This is the nice thing in my opinion, you can decide the level of complexity you want to achieve. It’s a platform that looks like something to play with, a game or something, but in reality there is a huge potential, in terms of knowledge that everyone can acquire, it’s something that you can not easily find elsewhere. I also think it offers great support, such as educational material, exercises that are of high quality. You can learn a lot of different aspects of robotics, in my opinion. You can do control, you can do the machine learning part, perception . There’s really a world to explore. You can see everything there is about robotics. But you can also just focus on one aspect that maybe you’re more passionate about. So yes, I would recommend it because you can learn a lot, and as a student myself I would recommend it to my fellow colleagues.

Learn more about Duckietown

The Duckietown platform offers robotics and AI learning experiences.

Duckietown is modular, customizable and state-of-the-art. It is designed to teach, learn, and do research: from exploring the fundamentals of computer science and automation to pushing the boundaries of knowledge.

Find out more use cases
Get Started with Duckietown!

Tell us your story

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