AWS and Intel have announced the winners of the DeepRacer Student League 2022, a competition designed to provide a fundamental understanding of machine learning to students. This competition was conducted with support from the Ministry of Education and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Participants used machine learning to program a model race car on a virtual miniature track using AWS DeepRacer, an integrated learning system. Using reinforcement learning, the cars learn to navigate their way around the track through trial and error and get ‘rewarded’ whenever they navigate a section of the track in an optimal way.
The winners
Prudhviraju Chekuri from Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering, Andhra Pradesh, emerged as the winner of the AWS DeepRacer Student League 2022, with a lap time of just 10.263 seconds. Prudhviraju will gain a direct entry into the AWS Global DeepRacer Student Championship Cup to be held in October 2022 and receive an Amazon.com voucher worth Rs 1,00,000.
“Before I started racing in the AWS DeepRacer Student League, I didn’t know much about Reinforcement Learning. But I love the concept of self-driving cars. I started participating in league with a lot of curiosity,” Prudhviraju Chekuri, Student, Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering, Andhra Pradesh.
Yugal Agarwal from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Rajasthan, came second and will receive an Amazon.com voucher worth Rs 75,000.
“The opportunity to actually apply it to racing cars was a wonderful experience altogether. From having little to no clue, to making it to the top three has been a marvelous experience for me.” Yugal Agarwal, Student, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Rajasthan
Bhanu Prakash Reddy from JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh secured the third place and will receive an Amazon voucher worth Rs 50,000.
Evaluation for employment
The top 100 semi-finalists will be evaluated for employment by AWS partners— Cloudthat, Searce, Cognizant, and Pentagon System and Services. In addition, the top 2,500 students from underserved or underrepresented communities will be shortlisted for the AWS AI ML Scholarship, presented by AWS, Intel, and Udacity. 2,000 students will access educational content, career mentorship, and Udacity Nanodegree scholarships. Prof. Ajay K. Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, said, “The emerging domains of science and technology such as quantum computing, machine learning, and AI present transformational opportunities, so it is critical to equip our young talent with advanced skills in these areas,”
Machine learning is one the most disruptive technologies of our time, and building a workforce with this skill is key to leveraging transformational opportunities. In fact, skills in AI and machine learning are among the top five most in-demand digital skills needed by employers in India by 2025, according to a report commissioned by AWS and prepared by strategic consulting firm AlphaBeta, titled “Building Digital Skills for the Changing Workforce.” Deeper industry-government-academia collaboration efforts are needed to meet these growing digital learning needs.
Sunil PP, Lead—Education, Space, and Nonprofits, Amazon Internet Services Private Limited, AWS India and South Asia, said, “The increasingly enthusiastic response from students and academicians across states for industry-government-academia initiatives like the AWS DeepRacer Student League is exciting, especially the interest from students to gain a practical understanding of key technologies like cloud and machine learning,”
Akanksha Balani, Regional Alliance Head, AWS, APAC & Japan, Intel, said, “This is a program that truly shows the power of partnerships activating change through joint technology, and AWS continues to bend the curve on what is possible.”