Successful end to the first HKUST-Kaisa Autonomous RC Car Racing Competition with great support from Kaisa Group | Entrepreneurship Center - The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Successful end to the first HKUST-Kaisa Autonomous RC Car Racing Competition with great support from Kaisa Group

As the first of its kind in the university, many are delighted to witness the rise of some new artificial intelligent (AI) talents in the HKUST-Kaisa Autonomous RC Car Racing Competition held in 1 April 2021. The competition was sponsored by Kaisa Group and co-organized by School of Engineering, Robotics Institute, Intelligent Autonomous Driving Center, HKUST-Kaisa Joint Institute and Entrepreneurship Center.

Winners shared their moment of glory with the VIPs.

The competition aimed to promote and demonstrate interest and application potential of autonomous radio-control vehicle and cultivate young talents with different knowledge. Opened to all staff, alumni, undergraduate and postgraduate students, the competition attracted 94 participants to readily showcase the possibilities of technological innovation to the HKUST community. Participants teamed up to 25 and joined 4 workshops during November 2020 to January 2021.

RC car used in the competition was coded with AI programming.

The workshop delivered useful tips and tools for utilizing deep learning and neural networks, for instance, incorporating sensors for object detection, a powerful processor for image classification and complex algorithms for speed processing. The participants were equipped with knowledge of developing an self-driving AI thanks to Prof. Ming Liu, the Director of Intelligent Autonomous Driving Centre, and his research team’s relentless effort to design multiple trainings. 25 teams then move on to field practice. They spent the first 3 months of this year, 500 hours in total, to collect data including light conditions, battery levels, steering frequency on the race track to allow best control of the RC car at the limits of handling.

The trio received 1^st place award from Mr. Kwok Ying Shing (Chairman of the Board of Kaisa Group), Professor Wei Shyy (President of HKUST).

Two final teams chased competition in tight race.

The hype was real on the competition day. After three qualifying rounds, 16 teams raced head-to-head in the round of 16, quarter final and semi-final, and finally two teams stood out to chase for championship. Mr. Kwok Ying Shing (Chairman of the Board of Kaisa Group), Professor Wei Shyy (President of HKUST) and VIPs watched the team of 3 (Josef Gstoettner, Gu Zhifeng & Chow Sin Yee) outshone their peers with the shortest total lap time in the final game. The award were distributed as follow:

Champion	Team 21	JOSEF GSTOETTNER Gu Zhifeng CHOW, Sin Yee
1^st runner-up	Team 19	Bose, Turzo Tang, Chit Fung NAMAKKAL RAGHAVENDRAN, Srinivas PANG, Hong Wing
2^nd runner-up	Team 2	WONG, Raymond Man Hong LEUNG, Chun Yin LEE, Chun Hei LEUNG, Pok Man
	Team 12	Uy, Mark Lee, Ka Ho Chak Kwan Yi Chan To Yik
3^rd runner-up	Team 9	JIan PENG KOU Zili AHMAD Afzal FU Yuxiang
	Team 11	TANG, Sai Kit FUNG, Mark Anthony ZHENG, Jiakun ZHANG, YuKai
	Team 17	TIAN Xiangan ZHAO Xiaoqi
	Team 25	TAM, Wui Wo CHAN, Pang Wong

Turzo Bose (1^st runner-up winner) from the School of Engineering is eager to put what he learnt into practice. “One common thing that we all are took away from this competition are personality, team building and time management skills. I will also be using the knowledge of deep neural network, machine learning model and computer-vision algorithm in my next start-up project named Peeker.” While it is inspiring to see actions taken by the visionary, the Entrepreneurship Centre is also glad to guide students to be open to new ideas. Andy Tang (3^rd runner up winner) from the Division of Integrative Systems and Design said: “Joining this competition made me realize that AI is not the kind of rocket science that I originally imagine that to be. It was easier than I anticipated to use AI technology for a lot of application. When I build things later, I might find it useful.”

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