Lockheed Martin and DRL are challenging teams to develop an AI-enabled framework, powered by the NVIDIA Jetson platform for AI at the edge, that can navigate a fully autonomous drone through complex, multi-dimensional racing courses – without any pre-programming or human intervention.
Teams will develop AI that has an accurate representation of a drone operator’s goals and desires, so it can make inferences about current and future needs, limiting the need for explicit direction.
This is a competition of AI quality – all other racing variables, including the drone hardware, are controlled.
AlphaPilot will award more than $2,000,000 in prizes for its top performers!
- The grand prize winner will take home $1 million.
- The first AlphaPilot team to beat a human-piloted drone in head-to-head competition will take home an extra $250,000.
Lockheed Martin and DRL are targeting U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to apply for AlphaPilot; however, the competition is open to drone enthusiasts, coders and technologists ages 18+ from around the world. If you believe autonomy will shape our future, now’s your chance to help create that future. This is a great opportunity for some of the world’s most creative minds to go head-to-head and show what their technologies can do.
Work with professional mentors and industry-leading technical partners.Lockheed Martin engineers and AI specialists will serve as mentors to Challenge teams. DRL will supply Challenge teams with standardized drones, and their drone experts will collaborate with teams and Lockheed Martin technical mentors throughout the multi-year partnership. Contestants will also have access to products from NVIDIA, the leader in AI computing.
Eligibility
- The Contest is open to applicants who are at least 18 years of age.
- Teams may enter independently or as representatives of a university or business entity.
- Teams may also pursue sponsors to assist with computing infrastructure and travel costs.
Benefits:
These nine teams will compete to design an AI framework capable of piloting racing drones through high-speed aerial courses without any GPS, data relay or human intervention. AlphaPilot teams will battle it out during Artificial Intelligence Robotic Racing (AIRR) Circuit’s inaugural, four-event season later this year for a chance at winning a $1 million cash prize, sponsored by Lockheed Martin. An additional $250,000 reward will be given to the first team whose autonomous drone pushes the limits of performance between man and machine, and bests a human-piloted drone.
How to Register
a.Express consent–Each Entrant must expresslyagree to
i.The Official Rules; and
ii.A privacy disclosure with reference to the applicable privacy policy for the Challenge.
b.Registration of a Team–Everyone interested in participating in the Challenge as a contestant must create an individual profile.
To form a team, the designated Team Leader must create a team profile and invite other entrants to join.
The Team Leader is the contact and representative for the Team. Teams may have up to 10 Members
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the Lockheed Martin AlphaPilot Challenge 2019