Spectacular AWS DeepRacer League Event
March 2022 at KGISL Institute of Technology
On March 10th and 11th 2022, the KGiSL Educational Institutions had its spectacular event of the AWS DeepRacer physical track at the K Govindaswamy Open Auditorium. Earlier, in the same venue, on 5th Dec 2021, the grand launch of the AWS DeepRacer track had created tremendous amount of curiosity and queries among the students.
THE FLYING START
I came to know about the event and I was really super excited to explore and clear my queries about the league. Initially, they conducted the GoogleMeet and explained what are the steps we must follow to join the League. This introduction and the subsequent coordination that happened was very helpful.
THE COURSE
The online course offered by them was very clear and they explained to us clearly about Artificial Intelligence(AI), Machine Learning(ML), Reinforcement Learning(RL). The coordinators were supportive and helped us to complete the course. And I gained knowledge through the course.
AWS DeepRacer is an autonomous 1/18th scale race car designed to test RL models by racing on a physical track. Using cameras to view the track and a reinforcement model to control throttle and steering, the car shows how a model trained in a simulated environment can be transferred to the real world.
As soon as I completed the course I received the mail to participate in a class at AWS Academy. The class is called AWS Academy Learner Lab - Associate services which provided a lot of momentum to move ahead in my learning.
TRAINING OF THE MODEL
With the help of the course and the coordinators, I began to create a model and I learned how to train, evaluate and claim the reward. The RL platform conveys praise if our graph raises and punishes if our graph downs during the training.
I came to know that our model is underfitting the training data when the model performs poorly on the training data. This is because the model is unable to capture the relationship. And our model is overfitting the training data when the model performs well on the training data but does not perform well on the evaluation data. This is because the model is memorizing the data it has seen and is unable to generalize to unseen examples.
The reward function in the console helped us to validate the code. Whenever the validation turned green, we felt that we had taken the right step forward. We began by training our model in Reinvent2018 and eventually also trained in different tracks which were suggested by the experts and coordinators.
THE WEBINAR SERIES
The webinar series was very informative. A series of webminars were held on 28th Feb, 2nd March, and 4th March 2022 by Mr.Subin Guruvayurappan, Mr.Darshan and Mr.Tomasz Ptak respectively through Microsoft Teams. They were very informative was a real pleasure to attend. The series also helped me articulate parts of my role well and consider new aspects of leadership. Going forward, I would incorporate all the learnings from the webminars to move further along.
THE SHORTLISTING
I built almost 10 models and I decided to submit my best lap time model to the submission. As soon as I submitted the model there was a LeaderBoard which captures all the best lap times of the contestants. I became very thrilled and decided to submit another model since the console itself will choose the best lap time. And very soon I heard that I got shortlisted for the event and I was super excited that my model got selected for the next round with the best lap time and with 100% completion of the track in simulation. And I eagerly awaited the Two Day Event to see my model would react on the physical track.
THE EVENT
The event’s agenda
The MoCs began introducing and after the welcome address, Dr.Ashok Bakthavathsalam sir mentioned that the event was planned in March 2020 due to pandemic it was postponed. Hearing this, I felt fortunate because the event was initiated after I entered the KGiSL Institution since it’s my second year! The dignitaries inaugurated the event. And there was also an AI/ML Expo by the students of KGiSL Institution and their projects were amazing. And they also conducted two rounds of shortlisting the top 20 teams to participate in the finals through simulation. And I got selected for the finals which made me happy.
THE FINALS
And the final day comes, all the participants were excited to see their model on physical track. And there were participants from KITE, KGCAS, KCT, Sri Krishna, Sri Ramakrishna College etc., and there were students from different districts including Thanjavur and Nilgiris.
And I was the first one to evaluate my model in the physical track . I was really nervous and my heart beats faster because the judges, the participants, the timers and everyone gathered there were looking on the track. My mind was also racing, just thinking about the Timers, the Cup, the appreciation, the words, the supporters and finally the start evaluation button. There was only 3 minutes of time allotted for the evaluation of the model in the physical track.
As soon as they asked me to start I started the model even though its just struck in between but it completed the lap with 15.80 seconds and being in the Hot seat taught me how the seconds matters in our life. And other participants were evaluated their model in the track. And eventually there was a Points Table on the screen. I found my name remains in the top of the points table which made me happy. But there were the criteria to select the champion and I also watched other participant’s model on the track and at the same time had an eye on the Points Table as well.
VALEDICTORY FUNCTION
The dignitaries appreciated and praised the event. The event was a grand success. And they announced the winner with the countdown. I was really nervous because of the criteria. Finally they announced the name as the champion and the name was mine. I felt overwhelmed and happy to receive the trophy from the dignitaries. This was also my first trophy after having entered college life. I also congratulate the runner-up and all other participants. The organizers and volunteers received their award of appreciations.
The event really made every students in KITE and KGCAS to participate in the next year DeepRacer League which we are all eagerly looking forward to. And for those who are interested to know more, visits can be organized to see the DeepRacer Platform anytime in the college. And the ever helpful KGISL Edu DeepRacer community is always there to guide and help them!
SPECIAL MENTION
I personally thank our Managing Director Dr. ashok bakthavathsalam sir. He was the one who always wanted the students to shine and to explore a lot of technology. His initiation and efforts made this event the grand success. The inputs from him always boosted us to work with full efforts. Thanks a lot, sir!
THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE EVENT FOR ME!
I felt really nervous when I saw the media handing the microphone to me. Since it was my first time, in the heat of the moment I did my best to convey the feelings and emotions I felt during the league event. Our whole event was cast by the media in the local channels!
VIDEO
Click below to watch the amazing model done by our team which completes the full lap without any offtrack
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pehvlx13fZXdR4sMLWmQiDJsiKEHc9DE/view?usp=drivesdk
EVENT PHOTOS
END OF THE EVENT
What made me even happier is that the KGiSL Institution won the championship in the league among the various institutions. The dignitaries, the organizers, the mentors, the coordinators, the participants, the volunteers and the audience were happy with the grand success of the AWS DeepRacer League.
I really thank the institution for this wonderful opportunity. I feel very blessed to be a student at KGiSL Educational Institution because the students who focused on their dreams , the Institution never fails to showcase their talents to the world.
My heartfelt thanks to the AWS Academy , KGiSL Institution and all my supporters. This day is definitely going to be part of my most remarkable memories.
READY, SET , GO!
⮚Be ready and focused always because the opportunity doesn’t knock twice!
⮚ Once you got opportunity , set the goal and follow the path!
⮚ Get intensely involved and move forward until you achieve the goal.
