AWS DeepRacer League Update #21 July halfway check

It feels like if June was yesterday and we’re already two weeks into the July races. Find out who’s pushing the limits in the Pro, check out a racer tsunami in the Open.

We’ve taken a longer beak from the updates to focus on managing the growth of our community. We have invited the students of the AWS Machine Learning NanoDegree scholarship Program to join our Discord which means that over the last few weeks we have grown from 5,000 to now nearing 35,000 students. Very exciting change!

AWS DeepRacer

AWS DeepRacer is a 1/18th scale autonomous race car but also much more. It is a complete program that has helped thousands of employees in numerous organizations begin their educational journey into machine learning through fun and rivalry.

Visit AWS DeepRacer page to learn more about how it can help you and your organization begin and progress the journey towards machine learning.

Join the AWS Machine Learning Community to talk to people who have used DeepRacer in their learning experience.

Pro Division

Race info:

• 64.67 meters long
• 107 centimeters wide
• Head-to-bot format with four bot cars cruising at 2 m/s with no lane changes
• Racers are trying to complete three laps – all laps are separate
• Each collision results in a five seconds penalty
• Each driving off the track results in a three seconds penalty
• Top 16 go on into a live race which will be streamed on Twitch to fight for places in the League Finals and AWS DeepRacer EVOs

All submissions
Update time: 2021-07-17 13:00:00 UTC

Racers: 106
Total submission attempts: 26359
Best total time: 01:07.888 by JJ
Mean total time: 03:04.216650943
Best lap: 00:22.428 by Karl-NAB
Mean best lap: 00:56.635132075
Mean average lap: 01:01.405216981

We can already see over 100 racers taking part including many of those who have already qualified into the championships. They will not count in the fight for the finale but it’s nice to see them still interested.

We’re in one of those states where the best time owner does not own the best lap. This sometimes happens and usually means that the model has a potential to go fast but is lacking the repetitiveness of fast laps – some are insanely good, some too slow to top the list. It’s quite astounding that the best time from JJ is almost as fast as average single lap time in the Pro Division. That guy just loves to make it clear how good he is!

Top 20 submissions
Update time: 2021-07-17 13:00:00 UTC

Racers: 20
Total submission attempts: 17198
Best total time: 01:07.888 by JJ
Mean total time: 01:17.702100
Best lap: 00:22.428 by Karl-NAB
Mean best lap: 00:25.352650
Mean average lap: 00:25.900400

Things get much more tight in the top 20 with the mean average lap just 3.5 seconds behind the best lap. I’m expecting this to come even closer in the next weeks.

JPMC’s Ace and Rogue are topping the list of those fighting for the July Finale race. We have six championship racers in top 25 (shown in italic). After removing them the last person in a currently qualifying spot is EnBW-Flitzer in 20th. Current 1st to 16th gap is over 26 seconds so taken into account that last month we went under 5 seconds at the end of the month, I’m expecting some rapid improvements.

Open Division

Race info:

• 40.56 meters long
• 107 centimetres wide
• Simpler and shorter than the pro track but still pretty challenging with a variety of straights and turns
• Time Trial format
• Competitors need to complete three laps and total time counts for their classification, each lap starts from halt
• Each off-track results in five seconds penalty.
• Racers fight for qualification to the Pro group which is won by the top 10%
• They will also receive a Pro Welcoming Kit which is a bit of a mystery

The Open Division track is slightly easier with a whole section removed but still brings many challenges to the racers. Also there the section cut out means there is one less long straight to shine which makes the whole lap more about doing good turns.

This is so far the biggest race of this month with already around 1300 racers. A lot of them have joined through the Udacity Scholarship but we can clearly see some are really into it. With that a gentle reminder:

Especially when you’re starting your adventure with AWS accounts and its billing, it’s worth enjoying it with caution. Edward Krueger and Dylan Rossi share some hints on that in their article Keeping the “Free Tier” Free.

All submissions
Update time: 2021-07-17 13:00:00 UTC

Racers: 1297
Total submission attempts: 5592
Best total time: 01:21.207 by mikeRacer
Mean total time: 04:03.314582113
Best lap: 00:24.456 by Janesoki
Mean best lap: 01:14.952616037
Mean average lap: 01:21.104534310

1297 open racers means that currently we’ll have 130 new pro racers in August. As things stand, the 130th racer is abw with the total time of 2:34.927.

I’ve looked at Janesoki’s performance – this racer has one reset and is still in fourth spot and holds the best time so far. Sounds like the secret lies in the last straight, just look:

That’s quite some acceleration, isn’t it? But then check out Lap 2:

The model is showing signs of good behaviour but isn’t consistent enough. Sounds like it would require more work. Still, great times!

Top 25 submissions
Update time: 2021-07-17 13:00:00 UTC

Racers: 25
Total submission attempts: 725
Best total time: 01:21.207 by mikeRacer
Mean total time: 01:40.697880
Best lap: 00:24.456 by Janesoki
Mean best lap: 00:31.482520
Mean average lap: 00:33.565600

The gap between 1st and 25th racer is over 30 seconds and frankly it can now go both ways as leaders could still go under 60 seconds on this track.

Here’s the top 25 for the Open Division

That’s all for today, remember to return next week for an update. I wonder if we can manage to break a 2000 racers count this month.