Rice RoboRacers (R^3)
Team Advisor/PI
Project Description/ Research Team Goals
The Rice RoboRacers is a team that designs, builds, and races 1/10th-scale autonomous vehicles, developing the full autonomy stack (perception, localization, planning, and control) for a small-scale car operating at the limits of its dynamics. Students work across the platform lifecycle and benchmark their algorithms through both simulation-based racing and hardware testing.
Issues Addressed
- Perception and state estimation, trajectory planning, and stable control
- Robust and safe control under uncertainty, multi-agent overtaking and collision avoidance, and the simulation-to-reality gap
Research Methods and Technology
- 1/10th-scale vehicle with LiDAR, camera, and IMU
- Localization and mapping, raceline optimization, and motion planning
- Control methods spanning classical, optimization-based, and machine learning-based approaches
- Simulation-to-hardware workflow, prototyping algorithms in simulators before deploying to the physical car
Preferred Undergraduate Interests
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Software Engineering
Academic Majors of Interest
Open to all majors
Prior Preparation/Requisite Experience
Some Python programming is helpful
Compensation
Work study-eligible students may receive compensation from OURI.
Course Credit
MECH 490
Team Meeting
- Regular meetings with graduate student mentor
- Monthly group meetings with PI and lab
Actively Onboarding New Members
Yes
Ready to Apply?
Use the linked Google Form to submit your application!
Contact
For more information, please contact Dr. Sasha Davydov (davydov@rice.edu), or visit the team's website.