ROAR Ambassadors Program

Bringing Berkeley ROAR AI Racing, ROAR Research, and ROAR Academy experience to your K-12 schools and colleges to form your ROAR activities with our technical and financial support, please consider joining our next-level ROAR Ambassadors program.

About the Program

Led by its faculty members with deep expertise in AI and autonomous driving, Berkeley established and has hosted an AI racing competition since 2020. The Robot Open Autonomous Racing (ROAR) competition pits multiple student racing teams to compete for speed and vehicle skills at the heart of the iconic Berkeley campus.

During the hardship of COVID-19, the Berkeley ROAR program expanded its outreach to service broader student communities in need of cutting-edge AI education and research. Currently, we have established three different leagues of AI Racing, and two classes for either college and above professional researchers or K-12 students. ROAR Academy has been established to supplement our ROAR education content by providing summer camp lectures to K-12 students directly by our ROAR faculty and students. Finally, we support Berkeley students and researchers to adopt the ROAR hardware and software platforms, which are completely open sourced, in their class projects and sponsored research programs. A more up-to-date overview of the Berkeley ROAR program is available online.

The Berkeley ROAR program would like to recognize the outstanding efforts and dedication of selective students who have been veterans of our ROAR platform, who have successfully completed ROAR AI Racing, and would like to contribute more by becoming an advocate and leader at their own school communities. Activities that the ROAR program would like to sponsor at your schools include organizing AI and Autonomous Driving seminars, participating in ROAR AI Racing, providing program feedback to us, and potentially becoming an active researcher to help grow the Berkeley ROAR program. Each ROAR ambassador will be directly teamed up with one ROAR faculty member and one graduate student at Berkeley.

Please note, ROAR Ambassadors program, including application to the Program, is considered public information. Your submission to and participation in ROAR Ambassadors indicate that you have provided explicit consent for Berkeley to publicly disclose your names and your school information (for example, on our website). We may further disclose your ROAR-related activities at the request of appropriate legal authorities.

Benefits

  • Ambassadors will be advised by one faculty member and one graduate student at Berkeley, typically remotely via teleconference. This is supplementary to any existing school research programs at your schools. We are happy to also work closely with your school faculty to further define the scope of collaboration.
  • Ambassadors are qualified to participate in annual ROAR AI Racing.
  • Berkeley will provide financial support to ambassadors’ school projects, subject to funding availability and each ambassador’s proposed budget.
  • Each nomination of ambassadorship will be for a period of one year. Current ambassadors are encouraged to apply to extend the appointment, so long as their affiliated schools remain the same.

Qualifications

  • Applicants must apply for an ambassador position as a current student from a K-12 or college with good standing. Up to three students can jointly apply for an ambassador position from one school.
  • At the point of the application, all applicants must have successfully completed one ROAR AI Racing competition in either the S1/S2 (Simulated Racing) leagues or the A1/A2 (Fully Autonomous RC Car Racing) leagues.
  • Applicants must provide a detailed ROAR activity plan for the duration of one year, including a budget request for financial support from Berkeley. Currently, we plan to fund multiple ambassadorships with an annual budget of $2000 each.
  • Applicants must also provide a support letter from their schools. The letter should explain the applicants’ qualifications from their current academic studies in school, and how the school may support the applicants’ extracurricular activities in the ROAR program. The letter may come from the office of student counseling or the office of student club activities.
  • Usually, the school’s support letter should also explain how the school will receive and manage the financial support issued from Berkeley that will be spent according to the applicants’ proposed budget. In cases where the school does not directly manage the student club’s budget, the applicants can request direct reimbursement from Berkeley.

Application

  • Berkeley ROAR program will open the application for ROAR Ambassador once a year. The deadline for 2021 is December 20th, 2021.
  • Each application should be submitted directly through this form. The application package should include the following forms:
    1. A cover letter including the applicants’ names, their school, and contact information. Each application may be written by 1-3 applicants as a team.
    2. Applicants’ latest resumes. Please note that any successful applicant must have completed at least one ROAR AI Racing at the time of application.
    3. A detailed description of the ROAR Ambassador plan that aims to support their local school communities, including a financial budget.
    4. A letter of support from applicants’ school, discussing the applicants’ academic qualifications and how the school will assist in managing the ROAR Ambassador finance.
    5. Any additional information the applicants’ would like to disclose, including additional support letters from the school faculty or peers.
    6. Existing ambassador teams may submit a renewal application to extend their program for the same period of one year. A renewal application must provide the same information as outlined above. In addition, existing ambassadors must provide a summary about their past activities and evaluate their impact in their student communities to justify a renewal.

 

ROAR Ambassadors Submission Form

Submissions are now open and can be submitted here.Please keep in mind that the deadline for 2021 is December 20th, 2022.

 

  1. A cover letter including the applicants’ names, their school, and contact information. Each application may be written by 1-3 applicants as a team.
  2. Applicants’ latest resumes. Please note that any successful applicant must have completed at least one ROAR AI Racing at the time of application.
  3. A detailed description of the ROAR Ambassador plan that aims to support their local school communities, including a financial budget.
  4. A letter of support from applicants’ school, discussing the applicants’ academic qualifications and how the school will assist in managing the ROAR Ambassador finance.
  5. Any additional information the applicants’ would like to disclose, including additional support letters from the school faculty or peers.

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