2023
Perception-Enabled Pure Pursuit for Small Scale Racing Cars
Associated with TU/e
Feb 2023 - Jun 2023
Reinforcement Learning
Object Detection
Python
R.O.S
This research project delves into the creation of an autonomous agent for a 1:10 scale racing car, designed to efficiently navigate unknown racetracks for the best lap times. The agent uses YOLO for cone detection and a 2D cumulative map for environment representation. Two navigation methods were examined: the Pure Pursuit algorithm, modified to adapt to track curvature for improved speed and resilience, and the Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) method, which is explored theoretically. Experiments revealed that the real-time cone detection was efficient enough to replace hand-placed waypoints without performance loss. The enhanced Pure Pursuit achieved faster speeds, pushing the vehicle to its full potential. The study paves the way for future advancements in small-scale autonomous racing.