Projects

Tentative Project Timeline

September 25: Signup open for students

~October 4: Finalize Teams and Tracks

October 14: Start Safety Training for Hardware Teams

October 15 and 17: Project Pitch Presentation

November 1 or 8, TBD: Mid Check-in

December 5 & December 10: Final Presentation

December 14: Video Due

December 15: Team evaluation form due

Check lectures for details on what to implement for the 4 tracks!

Check Campuswire for detailed guidelines and examples for the final video, final presentation, mid-point check-in, and pitch presentation!

Grade breakdown

The team project is worth 25% of your total grade. The breakdown of the grades is below.

PROJECT PITCHES (15%)

In class, you’ll be giving a high-level pitch of what you would like to focus on for your project. Here is a template for your presentation.

MILESTONE CHECK-IN (20%)

Choose any 15-minute slot during <date TBD> Discussion Sections to discuss your progress with TAs.

It will be a combination of Group progress + Individual Questions

FINAL PRESENTATION (40%)

In the last full week of class, you will be giving a presentation

ECE484 Fall 2024 Presentation Guidelines

  • You must provide a motivation and introduction to your project, a description of the overall system, methods you have used, and your results thus far.
  • You will be graded by the course staff on your (1) pitch / motivation; (2) clarity of the system description; (3) novelty of the method; (4) thoroughness of (proposed) analysis and results (if finished); and (5) presentation style.

FINAL VIDEO (25%)

You must submit a short video showing the results of your project. You will be graded on how well the video demonstrates your results (15%) and on video quality (5%). The remaining 5% on professionalism will come from your combined score from (tentatively) a peer evaluation on how you contributed to the project.

1. GEM (Hardware) Track

Description.

Our GEM vehicle has several software modules for autonomous waypoint following, LIDAR, camera, etc. Please carefully read and get familiar with GEM vehicle resources. More details to come.

Requirements.

  • A few people in your team must have a valid driver’s licenses
  • Highly recommended that your team has a car (you will have to get to the highbay often—201 St. Mary’s street, Champaign)

First steps.

Get lab DRS Laboratory Safety Training and DRS Fire Extinguisher Training from here. Generate the training certificates and wait for further instructions. More in-person trainings for the highbay will be necessary.

2. GRAIC (Simulation) Track

GRAIC is an open international autonomous racing competition to be held by the end of this semester(exact date to be announced). Your team will compete in this race and have to develop the software for autonomous racing in the environment with pedestrians, complex tracks, and other vehicles. Perception is not going to be a big part of the competition, but if you like, you can create your own version of the race and develop the perception pipeline.

First steps.

  • Familiarize yourself with the GRAIC simulator and software.
  • Sign-up on their mailing list

3. F1-tenth Track

Will be explained in lecture!

First steps.

Get lab DRS Laboratory Safety Training and DRS Fire Extinguisher Training from Generate the training certificates and wait for further instructions. More in-person trainings for the highbay will be necessary.