Show HN: Open-Source AI Racing Harness
6 hours ago
- #open source
- #autonomous drones
- #simulation tools
- Open-source practice rig released for Anduril's AI Grand Prix autonomous drone competition to enable early autopilot code development.
- Built on Elodin's simulation stack, featuring Rust ECS, JIT-compiled physics, Python bindings, a 3D editor, and time-series telemetry.
- Integrates Betaflight for realistic flight control simulation, with a focus on deterministic replays, GPU acceleration, and multi-rate sensors.
- Contestants edit a single Python autopilot function that processes sensor data and camera frames to generate RC commands.
- Setup requires uv, git, Git LFS, and a C toolchain, with installation scripts for Elodin CLI, Betaflight build, and simulation launch.
- Caveats include using Betaflight UDP packets instead of MAVLink, ENU vs. NED coordinate differences, and simplified atmospheric effects.
- Encourages community feedback on sim ergonomics, real-time control challenges, and potential improvements to the stack.