Duckietown Spirit

Note

Duckietown is a place of joy and relaxed introspection.

Last but not least, one of the things that can really set the Duckietown class is the spirit.

Some students are more attracted to this narrative than others, but regardless, it can serve as a tool for cultivating a strong sense of community around the class which inevitably results in a better overall experience for the students.

Below are some innovative aspects of the “spirit of Duckietown” that we try to embody.

Class Philosophy

The best engineers and scientists are the ones who have solid theoretical foundations, as well as practical experience in the domain of interest.

In autonomous robotics, it is important to get the “feeling” of what makes a robot work, and how the success or failure depends on subtle interaction between many hardware and software components.

To this end, it is necessary to study a complete system like Duckietown. The materials might seem simple, and the appearance might be playful, but the complexity of behaviors and representations is comparable to those of deployed robotic systems.

This class is a collaborative learning experience about modern robotics systems. The fundamental theme of the class is that embodied systems are a particular brand of AI system that has special real-world constraints. The only way to feel those constraints is to experiment with the physical system.

To this end, we like to tell students during the first class, that “Duckietown is a place of joy and relaxed introspection”, where typical stress factors, such as the final grade of the course, should be ignored. The laws of physics are harsh enough judges of our work for anyone to be actually worried about grades. This approach results in students spending a lot of time with their robots, inside their Duckietown, focusing only on making things work in the way they should.

Personalized experience

We advocate for a setup where each student gets their own personal robot to build and love. This starts with being able to name their robot - something that immediately establishes a connection between the student and their robot. We encourage students to customize their duckies and bots (being mindful of the potential technical repercussions).

Student code can live on

We strongly encourage you and your students to contribute back to the larger project. This could be through fixing bugs and making pull-requests, or by creating new and creative content or projects that we would be happy to showcase.

Many students tend to be extremely motivated by the possibility that, if they do an excellent job, their project or work could live on beyond just the specific course that they are taking. Students crave to be part of something bigger than the scope of a class.

The Duckies!

Attention

Duckies are entirely non-functional, purely decorative, yet essential.

Robots are typically thought of as dangerous, strong, fast, aggressive and unpredictable. We designed Duckiebots instead to be safe, weak and slow. Moreover, through the use of the duckie theme, they are perceived as curious, friendly and fun, breaking preconceptions about robotics: igniting curiosity and attracting broad attention. The Duckietown in our laboratory attracts plenty of attention, even when there are no robots.

We strongly recommend that everybody gets a Duckiebot (with duckies included) when they start the class, as part of a “box ceremony” where each student receives their robot.

Customizing your Duckietown

Your Duckietown is an opportunity to create something playful and fun. You may be surprised at the positive impact and impression that this has on your students. Your students may also become inspired to contribute.

The fusion of art and technology is a powerful tool for unleashing creativity. It is somewhat customary to include in each Duckietown non-functional elements, such as decorative buildings or a background “horizon” from the robot’s point of view, that recall landmarks of the city or region you are in.

Public Demonstration

Whenever possible, we try to end the course with a public demonstration. This has many potential benefits:

1. it acts as a strong motivation for students to produce something that they are proud of to show the world.

2. it teaches students how to communicate about their work to a more general audience (this is one possible intended learning outcome).

3. the pressure of the demo is an essential aspect of robotics - it is possible to make something work once and produce a video, but doing a public demonstration requires ensuring that it works reliably every time.

4. it teaches students how to operate under stressful conditions, a skill that is very useful in the real world.

5. it teaches students that evaluation comes from other individuals in the real world, and not from grades derived from tests.

The Hero Journey

Learning is an adventure, and in every proper adventure the hero has ups and downs, companions and mentors, moments of near-despair and eventually of cathartic celebration.

What will lead most of your students away is a drop in motivation coming from repeated failure. But “the master has failed more times than the novice has tried”, and we like to make our students aware of this from the get-go.

Sometimes we go as far as creating a story for them, inspired by the Hero’s Journey:

and here is how we introduce it in the massive open online course “Self-Driving Cars with Duckietown”:

The Duckietown Learning Journey

A word before proceeding further.

While cozy at your computer, you might be wondering what this section is about. This is a warning: there is a “storm” coming your way.

It is such a big and powerful storm that reasonable people would agree that staying home is the best way to safely avoid the inconvenience. We ask you instead to make preparations and step out of your dwelling. Set forth towards the storm!

Like the hero of your favorite mythological saga, you are, right here and right now, given a choice.

If you proceed further, you will take the first steps in a transformative journey, which might lead you to become a roboticist, a hacker, a software magician, or something else you will discover along the way.

In this quest, you will step from the comfort zone of what is known to you, in a journey through the unknown.

Like your favorite hero, you will be able to rely on “supernatural” aid provided by the beauty and perfection of mathematics.

Like your favorite hero, you will meet a mentor along the way. Duckietown will point you in the right direction and provide you with essential tools to succeed. But as with all hero adventures, your mentor will not walk the journey with you. This is your own learning adventure.

But if you look around, you will see that you are not alone in this journey. Many aspiring heroes are setting their first steps, too. Associate, work together, and help each other - because the storm is upon all. Assemble your party before marching forward, as there are many challenges along the path.

If you choose to cross the threshold of your comfort zone, you will begin your initiation quest.

During the first part of this quest, your path will lead downwards. You will face trials and failures which will test your resolve. It is through perseverance and patience that new skills are acquired and cultivated. Remember that “the master has failed more times than the novice has tried.”

Although you will be gathering new technical knowledge in this first part of your quest, you will come to feel overwhelmed. As you learn new things, the immensity of what you do not know becomes more evident, and it weighs. You will be tempted to quit; choose to assert your will and continue instead.

After these doubts, you will hit rock bottom. This place of the mind is known by many names: “the cave of the dragon”, “the supreme ordeal”, or the “abyss of death and rebirth”. Here you will (metaphorically) go through a process of death (nothing works, everything is broken, the course is terrible, and everybody complains) and rebirth.

Rebirth is the second part of the initiation quest, and it happens slowly, in a continuous process of revelations and transformation. As your coding skills start improving, and the “nuisances” of the real-world start to become clearer, things will start working. Slowly… but they will.

The final step of your quest to become a hero will be one of atonement. Your hard work will have produced imperishable fruits for you to banquet from and share at large. Only one last effort now separates you from the comforts of known territory, which you will reach as a person anew.

Welcome to this Duckietown learning adventure.