State-of-the-art robotics and AI made tangible, accessible, and fun!

State-of-the-art robotics and AI made tangible, accessible, and fun!

Learning autonomy: robotics and AI

Originating at MIT, Duckietown is a platform for delivering cutting-edge robotics and AI learning experiences.

We offer teaching resources to instructors, hands-on activities to learners, an accessible research platform to researchers, and a state-of-the-art ecosystem for professional training.

We believe the world needs more talent to shape the next generations of robot autonomy.

We know that talent is you.

Duckietown users worldwide

200 +
Universities
140 +
Companies
64
Countries

Happening in Duckietown

The project: from MIT to everyone

Duckietown started as a class at MIT in 2016 and is now a worldwide initiative to realize a new vision for AI and robotics education: state-of-the-art, hands-on, and for all.

The Duckietown technical infrastructure is maintained and developed by Duckietown, Inc., a Boston-based company. 

Duckietown’s no-profit educational and scientific activities are coordinated by the Duckietown Foundation, US.

The pedagogical platform: a minimal autonomy ecosystem

Duckietown has many components that work together to provide joyful learning experiences. The most tangible is the hardware: Duckiebots and Duckietowns.

Duckiebots are low-cost mobile robots that are built almost entirely from off-the-shelf parts.

Duckietowns are the urban environments: roads, constructed from exercise mats and tape, and the signage that the robots use to navigate around. Duckietowns can be transformed into smart cities (“Autolabs”) by adding traffic lights and watchtowers.

A DB21 Duckietown in a Duckietown equipped with Autolab infrastructure.

Duckietown for teaching

The Duckietown platform was designed as part of a university AI/robotics curriculum.

It has been used in prestigious universities, such as MIT, ETH Zürich, Université de Montréal, and many more.

We offer a “class-in-a-box” that comprises lectures, exercises, and theory that combine with the physical robot platform to reinforce the core concepts.

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Duckietown for "Makademics"

Makademics (makers + academics) are people who want to learn and build on their own and also want a deep understanding of how things are working.

We want to allow everybody to learn AI and robotics even if they are not at elite institutions like MIT and ETH Zürich.

With Duckietown you can build your own robot, follow along with our lectures and interact with a global community of learners.

Duckietown for research

The Duckietown platform has also been used extensively for research on mobile robotics and physically embodied AI systems, with Autolabs providing accessible means for reproducible research.

You might be interested in the papers about Duckietown, and learning about the AI Driving Olympics.

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