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.
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The Duckietown project
Duckietown started as a class at MIT in 2016. You can watch the “Duckumentary” created for the first class.
Duckietown 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Matthew R. Walter, Prof.Robot Intelligence through Perception Laboratory (RIPL)
Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago
Daniela Rus, Prof.Director, Computer Science and AI Lab (CSAIL)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Manfred DiazPh. D. Candidate
University of Montreal
Gioele ZardiniPh. D. Candidate
ETH Zurich
Teddy Ort, Ph. D.Senior Director
Robot Perception and AI at Symbotic
Valeria CagninaYoung Enterpreneur
Benjamin SawickiCoordinator Knowledge & Technology Transfer
NCCR Automation
Manuel Heredia OrtizVice President, PhD, Executive MBA
Airbus
Kishanprasad GunaleAssitant Professor
MIT College of Engineering, Pune
Peter Affolter, Prof.Head of Department Automotive Engineering
Berner Fachhochschule BFH
providing learning experiences that are
What we do
What’s new?
Join the AI Driving Olympics, 6th edition, starting now!
November 1, 2021
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The 2021 AI Driving Olympics Compete in the 2021 edition of the Artificial Intelligence Driving Olympics (AI-DO 6)! The AI-DO serves to benchmark the state
Join the AI Driving Olympics, 5th edition, starting now!
November 5, 2020
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Compete in the 5th AI Driving Olympics (AI-DO) The 5th edition of the Artificial Intelligence Driving Olympics (AI-DO 5) has officially started! The AI-DO serves
Duckietown and NVIDIA work together for accessible AI and robotics education: Meet the NVIDIA powered Duckiebot
October 6, 2020
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Duckietown and NVIDIA partnership for accessible AI and robotics education NVIDIA GTC, October 6, 2020: Duckietown and NVIDIA align efforts to push the boundaries of
Round 3 of the the AI Driving Olympics is underway!
October 29, 2019
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The AI Driving Olympics (AI-DO) is back! We are excited to announce the launch of the AI-DO 3, which will culminate in a live competition event
Duckietown Workshop at RoboCup Junior
June 19, 2019
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Duckietown Workshop at RoboCup Junior In collaboration with the RoboCup Federation, the Duckietown Foundation will be offering workshops at RoboCup 2019 in Sydney, Australia, providing
Congratulations to the winners of the second edition of the AI Driving Olympics!
June 3, 2019
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Team JetBrains came out on top on all 3 challenges It was a busy (and squeaky) few days at the International Conference on Robotics and
The Duckietown project
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 Foundation; our mission; our 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.
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.
With Duckietown you can easily build your own robot, and follow along our lectures and interact with a global community of learners.
