Robotic Chess Robot
Team Members: Josue Yanez, Brian Newberry, Jon White, Grant Cobb, Danny Reese (Team Leader)
Project Description:
The robotic chess robot plays chess against a human and makes valid moves that will challenge the human player.
The chess robot system makes its own moves with a robotic arm and it also makes sure that the human player
is making valid moves.
The game board has infrared sensors so that it can keep track of all piece movements without any internal
circuitry on each chess piece. The board also has an LCD screen with menu buttons providing the user with an
intuitive and accessible interface. The PC program that “thinks” through the game as the user’s opponent
runs in the background for the vast majority of game operation so that the user can feel that a real game of
chess is being played, not just a computer game. We have designed a robotic arm that is quick and precise
in piece placement. The arm, once activated, moves from the rear of the board to above the desired square and
then lowers a claw to grasp the piece. Once the piece is set down in the new square, the arm returns to the
back of the board so that it is completely out of the user’s way. The game logic can tell if a user has made an
invalid move. If this occurs, the other player forfeits.
Other Pictures:
Danny programming the 68HC12 microcontroller.
The Chess robot used an arm and claw to pick up pieces.
Grant and Josue constructed the enclosure for the robot.
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