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TUM wins the $1M prize on the 2021 Indy Autonomous Problem. | Picture credit score: Cell Robotic Information
TUM Autonomous Motorsport from the Technische Universität München (TUM), has received the Indy Autonomous Problem Powered by Cisco (IAC), the primary autonomous racecar competitors on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). TUM competed in a discipline of 9 groups from 21 universities to win the $1 million grand prize.
The Guidelines of the IAC competitors required every crew to compete in a quickest lap competitors that included an impediment avoidance element. TUM recorded the quickest 2-lap common velocity of 135.944 on the famed IMS Oval.
“Taking part within the Indy Autonomous Problem allowed our crew to advance autonomous driving applied sciences and having the ability to take first place after two years of laborious work acknowledges that we had an excellent crew,” stated Alex Wischnewski, crew chief of TUM Autonomous Motorsport. “Our subsequent purpose is to win a high-speed autonomous head-to-head race.”
Right here’s a video of the ultimate timed race lap for TUM as they handed the stands and into flip 1:
I used to be lucky to attend the occasion stay at Indy Motor Speedway (IMS) and IMS lived as much as it’s status as an unbelievable venue for an occasion like this. The occasion began with a Boston Dynamics Spot robotic waving the checkered flag to begin the competitors.
The TUM crew is made up of race followers who know the traditions of motor sports activities, together with the custom at IMS of “kissing the bricks” on the end line.
Advancing the way forward for autonomous driving
Autonomous racing presents totally different challenges from autonomous driving on public streets. Historical past was positively made on the 2021 IAC occasion. Key to the problem was the truth that all the autos have been an identical in {hardware} design and construct.
All the automobiles shared the very same chassis, engine and physique design. The autos have been all designed by Dallara and have been just like the Indy Lights autos. The race platform for this race was designated the Dallara AV-21. There was no benefit to any crew within the bodily automobile design.
The powerplant, transmission and rear suspension of the Dallara AV-21 racecar. | Picture credit score: Cell Robotic Information
Likewise, the race automobiles all shared the identical autonomous driving expertise, together with LiDAR, RADAR, imaginative and prescient cameras, IMS and GPS sensor bundle. On the coronary heart of the autos have been prime of the road Cisco routers (for routing all the alerts on-board) and an ADLINK Applied sciences AVA edge AI autonomous racing pc made only for IAC. (Keep tuned for a particular race automotive tour with ADLINK’s CTO Joe Pace)
The automobiles all shared an analogous software program stack constructed on prime of the Open Robotics ROS (Robotic Working System) with Eclipse Cyclone DDS. Probably the most troublesome downside to resolve for IAC 2021 was to design the racing algorithms that allowed the sensor fusion and enter processing to be finished in real-time whereas the automotive was shifting at excessive speeds. For instance, at 135 mph, the automotive is shifting 66 yards per second or 2,376 inches per second. Rather a lot has to occur in software program to seize new information from all the sensors and compute a brand new set level to steer the automobile to the subsequent trajectory setpoint on the racetrack.
Whereas the automobiles didn’t want to fret about pedestrians and cease lights, they didn’t have a lot room for error with the race monitor’s barrier ever current. A number of crew’s autos crashed into the wall when the race automobiles turned confused from the sensor inputs.
The race committee initially hoped that the groups may obtain a multi-car, head-to-head race. Nevertheless, there simply wasn’t sufficient testing time in the course of the 2021 occasion to succeed in this purpose. Consequently, the race committee modified the foundations for the ultimate occasion on Saturday to be a time trial and impediment avoidance contest. Every crew had 2 laps to heat up the engine and tires, after which they have been timed for 2 consecutive laps. The highest three groups then went on to the finals, the place it was 4 heat up laps and two timed consecutive laps.
A crew member from Black and Gold Autonomous Racing crew checks the automotive earlier than beginning it up. | Picture credit score: Cell Robotic Information
Ultimately, three groups certified for the finals. EuroRacing certified first with a median velocity of 131.148 mph; TUM certified second with a median velocity of 129.237 mph; Polimove certified third with a median velocity of 124.450. Kaist didn’t make the ultimate cutoff, however nonetheless ran a velocity of 84.355 mph. Not one of the different 5 groups have been capable of make it by their qualifying rounds. Three groups crashed their autos, and two groups didn’t make it out of the pits.
“The IAC wouldn’t be attainable with out the beneficiant help of Lilly Endowment Inc. and the Indiana Financial Growth Company, which have been dedicated companions for the reason that starting,” stated Paul Mitchell. “The prize cash received by TUM Autonomous Motorsport will go to the Technische Universität München (Technical College of Munich, Germany), to help the college’s efforts to additional autonomous expertise analysis and growth. We all know that the achievements of our IAC groups, alongside a number of the finest firms on this planet, will definitely result in the acceleration of Indiana’s AI and automation industries nicely into the long run.”
Along with 1000’s of attendees on the IMS, and greater than 36,000 viewers on the AWS livestream, the IAC hosted 350 highschool STEM college students, the subsequent technology of innovators, representing greater than 50 city, rural and suburban college districts throughout Indiana.
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