Autonomous Over-The-Board Chess Solution for Players in Isolated Conditions

Overview

Since the pandemic, online chess has seen unprecedented growth in its user base. This growth is largely due to players being unable to convene physically in quarantine and wanting to play games in isolation. However, a major problem documented in academic research is that players focus less in online chess games compared to over -the-board, physical chess games. The goal of this project was to design a fully autonomous chess board for a single player to play against various levels of computer bots with the e ase of online play and the benefits of physical chess. To achieve this, the team designed and built a 4 -string tension system to manipulate the location of an electromagnet. The system utilizes this electromagnet to move the custom 3D printed magnetic pieces from underneath the chess board, all while maintaini ng the illusion of a normal board. To detect the human player’s moves, the team employed 64 hall effect sensors below the board to detect the presence of a piece on each square. Moves detected by these sensors and Arduino UNO board are then sent to an onbo ard Raspberry Pi, which sends the optimal response back. The Arduino then instructs the movement system to execute the move. The three subsystems, movement, sensing, and computing were individually tested to determine their accuracy to ensure total system reliability. From the prototype’s performance and collected data, the team concluded that the project successfully achieved i ts goal of providing an autonomous over -the-board alternative for a single player.

Competition history

• JSHS 2024 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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