1. Autonomous vehicle skills development platform
RoboKart
Autonomous vehicle skills development platform
and events programme
Good morning, my name is Alex Lawrence-Berkeley from Self Driving Track Days, and I’m here to talk to you about RoboKart, our driverless skills development platform and events programme.

2. The problem: Industry has a growing skills shortage
Potential Workforce
Availability
Experience
Education
Required Workforce
Private investment
Public investment
Commercial demands
There is a global workforce shortage now and it’s forecast to get worse
High levels of private and taxpayer investment in technology, as well as commercial activity
but
No coordinated investment in skills development
When there is…
Physical access to driverless hardware is near non-existent, even in specialist educational organisations
The few existing solutions are not necessarily fit-for-purpose to fill the needs of employers

3. “Robot Wars meets Super Mario Kart”
RoboKart ™
“Robot Wars meets Super Mario Kart”
Development platform – a robotic driving unit
Event programme – Formula RoboKart
RoboKart is two things – a hardware and software development platform for controlling go karts, and an event programme of competitive races using that platform.
We will develop a robotic driving unit based on the hardware properties of a driverless car, including features such lidar, camera, radar and processing. This will control popular go-kart models already found world-wide and will be available for purchase (so we’re not selling a vehicle).
A number of driving units will then be deployed as part of an in-house fleet to run events whereby participant teams will be able to upload code remotely to driverless karts, in races designed to meet specific challenges of control required within driverless vehicles (such as platooning, object avoidance, speed control, automatic emergency braking, etc)

4. RoboKart ™
A hardware and software system for growing Autonomous vehicle development skills
Compatible with popular open-wheeled vehicles
Industry standard sensor suite
Learn computer vision, AI, robotic and sensor basics
Open architecture software and processing
Broad industry support

5. Provider agnostic
The goal is for the platform to be educator agnostic, whether that’s an online training provider, a college or university, vocational training workplace, or universities and companies outside the traditional automotive technology ecosystem.
Out of the box, the on-board software will be largely open-source, and hardware will broadly reflect what is already seen in industry (i.e. mostly off-the-shelf)– this approach means the deliverable uses of the hardware are very open-ended but remain realistic.
Methods, approaches, training outcomes and teaching ideologies are unaffected – so it is designed to be an enabling platform, not always a closed product.

6. Formula RoboKart
It follows a robotics-as-a-service model – access via subscription per season..
This removes capital and logistical costs to access road-speed driverless hardware which is otherwise prohibitive
Remote access – supports global market not just the UK
Non-exclusive - open to any age or industry group… students or otherwise
It’s a flexible tool, so can be used as easily for teaching as it could for academic research and new product development.
Focused on resolving disruptive STEM skills shortages - Artificial Intelligence, Sensor Fusion, Mechatronics and Robotics, Computer Vision and so on.

7. Further development
AR / VR elements, such as simulated danger, ride-along experience or gamification such as dodging the banana skin
New technology development
Low-cost Multi-vehicle research opportunities
Motorsport driver training (by robots)
Event teams building their own vehicles
We expect the hardware platform will be purchased as a unit for R&D purposes, as well as help develop new technologies and approaches that might not yet exist.
In short, it’s a flexible platform from which many businesses can be developed – a Raspberry Pi for the driverless ecosystem.

8. Current status Seeking £100k seed funding for prototype development
Prototype development team identified
Established UK-based advisory board
Good interest from prospective technology partners
500+ target customers identified: Strong links to major OEMs, Tier 1 and 2s across the driverless tech sector

9. Our goals
Be the number 1 supplier of autonomous vehicle training systems to automotive and academic organisations
Reduce the cost of access by 90%
Increase capacity for prospective engineers to access this technology by 100x
Facilitate development of autonomous vehicle technologists

10. Business model
Retail of control unit, ~ units per annum growing to 500 units per annum at £10k per unit, giving 5 year revenue of £15m and profit of 30% after costs.
Event revenue, sponsorships and media partnerships, 1-5 events per annum, at £100k-£500k revenue per event, a further revenue of £1.5m and profit of 30% after costs.

11. The Team
Sense Media Group run Self Driving Track Days, internationally unique driverless education events, and AutoSens, the world’s leading vehicle perception event. They also curate the Autonomous Zone at The London Motor Show.
Freeburn Robotics created driverless education and racing product Formula Pi and Managing Director Tim Freeburn is a Roboticist and former Go-Kart racer

12. NEED INPUT Any questions? Alex Lawrence-Berkeley
Head of New Projects
Sense Media Group