Students from Across Shawnee Mission Program Cars in DeepRacer Competition

An overhead view of the DeepRacer track with competitors surrounding the track.
Shawnee Mission School District

One of the fastest competitions of the semester drew 100 students from across the Shawnee Mission School District to the Center for Academic Achievement.

Middle and high school competitors programmed and raced self-driving model cars in an AWS DeepRacer competition. With a racetrack at the center of the room, students used their skills in programming to compete.

Prior to the event, students committed to a two-hour training session and two weeks of trial time. Students used a branch of machine learning called reward functions to train a car model to drive itself around the track.

After he was encouraged to sign up by his Digital Electronics teacher Jessica Tickle, Jack Temko, Shawnee Mission West senior, said he could see how the competition teaches important skills.

He said he has especially enjoyed the digital electronics course that led him to the contest and appreciated that the training applies to real-world, self-driving car technology.

“It’s taught me more I think than any other class has taught me in this realm,” Temko stated. “It’s really great that this place expands to teach students what they want to learn.”

It is never too early for students to learn these types of skills, Chris Wiles, assistant dean from the University of Kansas School of Engineering, stated as he attended the competition.

“These are professional growth fields and we need a lot more people in them so it is great people have these opportunities earlier in their careers to start exploring,” he added.

The opportunity to join the competition drew strong student interest, shared Engineering Signature Program instructor Jessica Tickle, who organized the event along with Engineering instructor Renee Chambers. In total, 150 students signed up for a limited 100 slots. 

Students gained a chance to learn something new and see how fun and inspiring that can be, Tickle explained. She said it was a great opportunity for students to learn that they have the potential for advanced skills in new fields of technology.

“We really struck the right chord for what interests students in Shawnee Mission,” Tickle expressed. “I most enjoyed the enthusiasm of the students and their ability to try, fail, and try again. There was no fear of failure, rather pure curiosity throughout the whole two week event.”

Tickle says she hopes the program will grow in the future and is seeking corporate partnerships to make that possible.

Here are the race results:

 

First Place was Team 12

Isaiah

Lane

10

SM Northwest

Jonah

Rogers

10

SM East

Juba

Rabia

9

SM Northwest

William

Housel

11

SM Northwest

Second Place was Team 10

Connor

Hirsch

7

Trailridge

Duncan

Hirsch

8

Trailridge

Jonathan

Downey

8

Trailridge

Ryan

Mould

10

SM West

Third Place was Team 18

Davin

Anderson

7

Westridge

James

Vyhlidal

7

Trailridge

Landon

Ferrel

7

Indian Hills

Walker

Cobb

7

Indian Hills

 

 

Instructor Jessica Tickle joins competitors engaged in the DeepRacer competition.
An overhead view of the DeepRacer track with competitors surrounding the track.
Students compete in DeepRacer competition, watching an automated car travel around a track.