Regional and Social Contributions
High School-University Collaboration
On Saturday, Mar. 22nd, KAIT organized the 7th “KAIT Racer GP: AI-Powered Autonomous RC Car Race” on campus.
The event, now in its seventh edition, was first held in Mar. 2022 under the leadership of Professor Toshihiro Wakita of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. The competition aims to cultivate future professionals capable of contributing to industrial innovation by offering students a platform to explore the fusion of information and mechanical engineering through performance contests involving AI-driven, self-constructed vehicles and motion control systems. This year’s event brought together a total of 11 teams, comprising university students, high school students, and working professionals from both inside and outside the prefecture.
Each race lasted for two minutes, during which teams competed for the number of laps completed in either in the “Expert Class” or the “Entry Class.” Vehicles came in two scales—1/10 and 1/28. In previous competitions, the two types raced on separate tracks, but due to significant improvements in the performance of 1/28-scale vehicles, both categories shared the same course in this competition. A second-year master's student in the Mechanical Systems Engineering program, in the expert class winning team "KAIT AI Racing", reflected on the race, saying:
"Until the day before the race, the software had difficulty starting, and we hadn’t done enough training runs, so I thought the actual competition would be very tough. However, the vehicle ran steadily and posted a good time, which made me realize just how important vehicle performance really is."
The Concours d’Elegance, Design Award, was presented to Kinoshita Printing Co., Ltd. By Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. This vehicle was a “Dekotora,” decorated truck, and it played powerful music while running, creating a lively and exciting atmosphere at the venue. Since this year’s course did not include any sharp curves, it also showcased smooth and high-speed driving.
List of Participating Teams
- Kanagawa Prefectural Atsugi-Kita Senior High School Team A and Team B
- Kanagawa Prefectural Shoko Senior High School
- TN Kojika（Aichi Prefectural Toyota Nishi Senior High School）
- Nidaime Toyonishi Racers（Aichi Prefectural Toyota Nishi Senior High School）
- Initial N（Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering）
- Kinoshita Printing Co., Ltd.（Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering）
- Ito Country Club（Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering）
- KAIT AI Racing（Department of Mechanical Engineering）
- Meisei Racer Team A（Meisei University）
- Meisei Racer Team B（Meisei University）
- RAR(General Participation)