Teach and learn robotics and AI with Duckietown

State-of-the-art robotics and AI made tangible, accessible, and fun!

An ecosystem for learning robot autonomy

Originating at MIT, Duckietown is a platform for delivering cutting-edge robotics and AI learning experiences.

We offer teaching resources to instructors, hands-on activities to learners, an accessible research platform to researchers, and a state-of-the-art ecosystem for professional training.

We believe the world needs more talent to shape the next generations of robot autonomy.

We know that talent is you.

News

The Duckietown project

Duckietown started as a class at MIT in 2016 and is now a worldwide initiative to realize a new vision for AI and robotics education: state-of-the-art, hands-on, and for all.

The Duckietown technical infrastructure is maintained and developed by Duckietown, Inc., a Boston-based company. 

Duckietown’s no-profit educational and scientific activities are coordinated by the Duckietown Foundation, US.

Learn about the history of Duckietown >

The Duckietown platform

Duckietown has many components that work together to provide joyful learning experiences. The most tangible is the hardware: Duckiebots and Duckietowns.

Duckiebots are low-cost mobile robots that are built almost entirely from off-the-shelf parts.

Duckietowns are the urban environments: roads, constructed from exercise mats and tape, and the signage that the robots use to navigate around. Duckietowns can be transformed into smart cities (“Autolabs”) by adding traffic lights and watchtowers.

Discover the technical platform >

A DB21 Duckietown in a Duckietown equipped with Autolab infrastructure.

Duckietown for teaching

The Duckietown platform was designed as part of a university AI/robotics curriculum.

It has been used in prestigious universities, such as MIT, ETH Zürich, Université de Montréal, and many more.

We offer a “class-in-a-box” that comprises lectures, exercises, and theory that combine with the physical robot platform to reinforce the core concepts.

If you are an instructor, get started here >

Duckietown for research

The Duckietown platform has also been used extensively for research on mobile robotics and physically embodied AI systems, with Autolabs providing accessible means for reproducible research.

You might be interested in the papers about Duckietown, and learning about the AI Driving Olympics.

If you are a researcher, get started here >

Duckietown for “Makademics”

Makademics (makers + academics) are people who want to learn and build on their own and also want a deep understanding of how things are working.

We want to allow everybody to learn AI and robotics even if they are not at elite institutions like MIT and ETH Zürich.

With Duckietown you can build your own robot, follow along with our lectures and interact with a global community of learners.

If you feel the Makademic spirit, start here >

Testimonials


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providing learning experiences that are

What’s new?

The Duckietown project

Duckietown started as a class at MIT in 2016. You can watch the “duckumentary” created about the first class.

Duckietown is now a worldwide initiative to realize a new vision for AI/robotics education.

Since 2018 the project is coordinated by the non-profit Duckietown Foundation.

Read more: The Duckietown Foundationour missionour story; how you can help.

The Duckietown platform

The platform has two parts: Duckiebots and Duckietowns. 

Duckiebots are low-cost mobile robots that are built almost entirely from off-the-shelf parts. The only onboard sensor is the forward-facing camera. 

Duckietowns are the roads, which are constructed from exercise mats and tape, and the signage which the robots use to navigate around. 

Read more about the platform…

Duckietown for education

The Duckietown platform designed as part of an a university AI/robotics curriculum. 

It has been used in prestigious universities, such as MIT, ETH Zürich, and Université de Montréal.

We are developing a “class-in-a-box” that comprises lectures, exercises, and theory, that combine with the physical robot platform to reinforce the core concepts. 

If you are an instructor interested in using Duckietown, read here to get started.

Duckietown for research

The Duckietown platform has also been used extensively for research on mobile robotics and physically embodied AI systems. 

If you are a researcher, read more about getting started about using the platform for research. See also: papers using Duckietown, the researchers using Duckietown.

Duckietown for “Makademics”

Makademics (makers + academics) are people who want to learn and build on their own and also want a very deep understanding of how things are working.

 
We want to allow everybody to learn AI/robotics even if they are not at elite institutions like MIT and ETH Zürich.
 

With Duckietown you can easily build your own robot, and follow along our lectures and interact with a global community of learners.