COCKPIT
Foundations, then COCKPIT Racing: radio setup, racing lines and race rules.
JAGP Academy
Learn to build itbefore you race it.
Five courses taught before the race. The first three are for every team. Then the paths split: COCKPIT racing for drivers, ROS 2 autonomy for self-driving cars. AUTONOMA teams compete with software on a car provided by the organisers, so for them the first three courses explain the car they program.
- Courses5
- Hours64 in total
- When1–14 December 2026
- FormatLectures online, labs in person
Your path
Three shared courses, then your tier.
At least two members of each team must complete the courses for their tier, with every lab checkoff signed.
Courses
What you will learn, session by session.
The syllabus is still being reviewed and may change before the Academy starts. Tap a course to see its sessions.
C0
Embedded Systems & Communication
COCKPITAUTONOMA
Embedded Systems & Communication
What the microcontroller does, what the single-board computer does, and how the two talk to each other.
- 01
Embedded Systems Overview
Lecture 2 h · Online
What a microcontroller (Arduino) does compared with a single-board computer (Raspberry Pi), why motor and steering signals stay on the microcontroller, and how the two boards talk over USB-Serial, UART, I2C and SPI.
- 02
Embedded Systems Lab Day
Lab 3 h · In person
Hands-on with both boards: read an IMU sensor on the Arduino, then from Python on the Raspberry Pi, then link the two boards and measure the delay between them.
IMU at ≥ 50 Hz on the Arduino · IMU at ≥ 20 Hz over I2C on the Pi · link latency measured
C1
Electrical Backbone
COCKPITAUTONOMA
Electrical Backbone
Batteries, motors, ESCs, protection and power budgets, ending in a complete vehicle harness with a working kill switch.
- 01
Power Systems Fundamentals
Lecture 2 h · Online
Battery types, voltage, capacity and C-rating, estimating runtime, why packs sag under load, and the LiPo safety rules.
- 02
Battery Safety & Wiring Lab
Lab 2 h · In person
Solder XT60 connectors, choose wire gauge, route cables, balance-charge a LiPo and practise the battery-fire drill.
XT60 assembled, polarity verified
- 03
DC Motor & Driver Theory
Lecture 2 h · Online
Brushed vs brushless motors, kV, torque and gearing, and how H-bridge drivers work, including why the race drivetrain uses a brushless motor with an ESC instead.
- 04
Brushless ESC & BLDC Theory
Lecture 2 h · Online
How an ESC drives a brushless motor, the RC PWM signal, and the forward, brake and reverse modes of a car ESC.
- 05
ESC Calibration Lab
Lab 2 h · In person
Calibrate the ESC throttle range, set soft start and brake/reverse modes, and test the drive chain on the bench.
Calibration record sheet signed
- 06
Connectors, Wiring & Safety
Lecture 2 h · Online
Connector ratings, fuse sizing, the kill switch that every car must have, receiver failsafe, and the remote E-stop on the organisers' AUTONOMA car.
- 07
System Design & Power Budgeting
Lecture 2 h · Online
How power and signals flow through the car, keeping compute power separate from drive power, and adding up the current draw with a safety margin.
- 08
Power Budget & Measurements Lab
Lab 2 h · In person
Measure real current draw and battery sag, estimate runtime, check the fuse rating, and complete your team's electrical specification sheet.
Electrical specification sheet complete
- 09
Integration Workshop
Workshop 2 h · In person
Assemble the complete vehicle harness, verify the kill switch and failsafe, then find and fix deliberately planted faults.
Harness checklist + fault diagnosis sheet
C2
Mechanical Dynamics
COCKPITAUTONOMA
Mechanical Dynamics
Vehicle dynamics, steering geometry, centre of gravity, suspension, stability and gearing, closing with a hands-on CAD lab.
- 01
Vehicle Dynamics & Geometry
Lecture 2 h · Online
Forces and weight transfer on a 1:10 car, Ackermann steering geometry, and how to find and lower the centre of gravity.
- 02
Suspension, Stability & Drivetrain
Lecture 2 h · Online
Springs, dampers and tyres, understeer vs oversteer, and choosing a gear ratio that balances top speed on the straight with torque out of the hairpin.
- 03
CAD Design Lab
Lab 2 h · In person
Design a real part for a 1:10 race car in SolidWorks, such as a sensor mount or battery tray, following 3D-printing design rules.
Part designed and exported as STEP
C3
COCKPIT Racing
COCKPITAUTONOMA: recommended
COCKPIT Racing
Transmitter setup, calibration, racing lines, slalom, flags and race format.
- 01
RC Systems Overview
Lecture 2 h · Online
How 2.4 GHz radio systems work, binding and channel setup, failsafe, and the transmitter rules at the event.
- 02
Transmitter Configuration
Lab 2 h · In person
Set dual rates, expo, throttle curve and trims on your transmitter, and test the failsafe live.
Dual rates, expo and failsafe working
- 03
ESC/Servo Calibration & Simulator Lab
Lab 3 h · In person
Calibrate throttle and steering endpoints and record the settings, then practise car control on an RC simulator.
Spec sheet signed · simulator laps logged
- 04
Racing Line Theory
Lecture 2 h · Online
Apexes, braking points and trail braking, and how to approach each section of the track: Monza Straight, Snake Road and Monaco Hairpin.
- 05
Cone Slalom Drills
Lab 2 h · Track
Build speed step by step through the Snake Road slalom, using video review to improve consistency.
Clean slalom, no cone contact
- 06
High-Speed Track Lab
Lab 2 h · Track
Full-speed runs on the straight and the hairpin, and timed laps with sector splits.
Full timed lap
- 07
Flag Rules, AIDA & Race Format
Lecture 2 h · Online
Race format, flags, the penalty table and heat-racing tactics, how AIDA supports the marshals, and how to request a penalty review.
C4
ROS 2 & Racing Strategy
AUTONOMA
ROS 2 & Racing Strategy
From a bare Ubuntu install to a race-ready autonomous stack: ROS 2, perception, mapping, localization, navigation and racing algorithms. You work in the simulator provided by the organisers and on the organisers' car, and your entry for the event is a container image.
- 01
Environment Setup
Lab 2 h · In person
Install ROS 2 Jazzy on your laptop with the tools used throughout the course and the simulator, create a workspace and run a first demo.
Clean build, demo running
- 02
ROS 2 Core Concepts & Pub/Sub
LectureLab 2 h · Online
Nodes, topics, services, actions and parameters, and the tools to inspect a running system, then write publisher and subscriber nodes with a custom message type and measure how fast the data flows.
Custom message > 10 Hz, latency < 5 ms
- 03
TF2, Robot Model & LiDAR
LectureLab 2 h · In person
Coordinate frames and transforms, and the organisers' car model (URDF) in RViz, then read and filter the 2D LiDAR's scans and detect the nearest obstacle.
Nearest-obstacle node running
- 04
LiDAR Perception Lab
Lab 2 h · In person
Find the track edges, the cones and the moving obstacle in the LiDAR scan, and publish the car's offset from the middle of the track.
Track offset and obstacle position published
- 05
SLAM & Localization (AMCL)
LectureLab 3 h · In person
Drive the track to build a map with SLAM Toolbox, then localize on that map with AMCL. At the event every turn follows this order: the car maps the layout, then drives its timed laps on that map.
Track map built · converges from a cold start and holds through a lap
- 06
Nav2: Architecture, Planner & Controller
LectureLab 2 h · In person
How Nav2 is built: behaviour trees, planners, controllers and costmaps, then configure the planner and controller (Regulated Pure Pursuit) and drive autonomous laps on waypoints.
Completes one autonomous lap on waypoints
- 07
Follow the Gap & Pure Pursuit
LectureLab 3 h · In person
Complete and tune Follow the Gap, a reactive racing algorithm that steers toward the largest free space, then complete and tune Pure Pursuit to follow a recorded race line accurately at speed.
Hairpin and Snake Road slalom at speed without contact · cross-track error under 15 cm
- 08
Race Line & System Integration
LectureLab 2 h · In person
How a fast race line and speed profile are computed, and how to plan for the moving obstacle on the Monza Straight, then start the whole stack in your container with one launch file and rehearse a turn: start button, no outside input, and surviving an E-stop.
Bringup under 60 s, E-stop tested
- 09
Mock Race Day
Workshop 2 h · Track
A full rehearsal at the Mock Race Day on 27 February 2027: your image loaded on the organisers' car, mapping and timed laps in one turn, penalties, and a debrief.
Counts for 25% of the course grade
How it runs
Learn online, build in the lab.
- Lectures onlineLive and recorded, so you can catch up. The Academy runs every day for two weeks; the daily timetable will be announced.
- Labs in personAt JUST (Techno), with an Amman lab if enough teams are based there.
- Signed checkoffsEvery lab ends with a practical check signed by the instructor. That's how your team qualifies to race.
- The car you work onCOCKPIT teams work on their own car from the Course 3 labs onward. AUTONOMA teams work in the simulator and on the organisers' car in Course 4.