Single Player Chess on a Physical Chessboard
About
We started our project with the desire to create something interactive that combines software complexity, opportunity for visual and aesthetic design, and mechanical and electrical challenges. We wanted to make something that would provide a fun experience for users and, most importantly, a product we would be proud of at the end of the project.
We decided to make a chessboard. We wanted to be able to play single player chess against a computer as if it were a human. This meant having a physical chessboard (as opposed to a virtual one) and integrating a way for the computer to detect the state of the board and physically move its own pieces.
System
Our project consists of several integrated systems: a 2D gantry that moves an electromagnet underneath the board, a set of 3D-printed chess pieces with magnets on the bottom, the chess board itself, and a chess AI capable of using computer vision to detect its pieces on the board and using the electromagnet and gantry to move them. We focused on visual design as well as functionality, and this took the form of an arcade-inspired color theme and lights.
Project Origins
We were inspired by the Harry Potter-style Wizard's Chess team from POE 2014 and decided to iterate on their project. We loved their hidden electromagnet that made the chess pieces move on their own, but wanted to take a different approach on the theme. Instead of implementing voice control for the pieces, our software team was more interested in developing a computer vision system to recognize the pieces on the board. This allowed the human to simply move their pieces and the computer to react appropriately.
Meet Our Team
We are Team Grandmaster, a group of 5 sophomores at the Olin College of Engineering. We have a wide range of interests including robotics, sustainability, mechanical design, and material science, and visual design!
Arla Sutton (she/her)
Arla's an Engineering: Design major interested in Mechanical Design, and helped to fill the shoes of a mechanical engineer for this project. She focused primarily on creating a working gantry, cutting the pieces for the box, and crafting a comprehensive Solidworks assembly. Arla has defeated her dad in chess a whopping total of three times over the course of her life, an accomplishment she takes great pride in.
Ari Porad (he/him)
As a robotics-focused Engineering: Computing major, Ari is a lover of all things software and most things robotic. He loved building the software that powers the Grandmaster Chess Board, especially getting to tightly integrate the physical and virtual.
Emma Fox (she/they)
The truest opossum of the group, Emma fills the other ⅝ of a mechanical engineer’s shoes. They are majoring in Engineering: Sustainability and are always excited to do hands-on projects, learn new things, work with cool people, and talk about Star Wars.
Dre Hilton (he/him)
Half Electrical and Computer Engineering major, Half Chemical/Matsci Engineering major, Dre was just as enthused to be the team's electrical engineer for this project as he is about binge watching anime, cartoons, and docuseries! In his youth, Dre played chess with his uncle and grand dad, so this project was extremely refreshing to work on.
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Claire Hashizume (she/her)
Claire is planning to major in Human-centered Design Engineering and loves to make things pretty. Despite not knowing how to play chess (and having no plans to learn), she was very excited to work on the visual design of this project, and she spent her time building the website and helping to laser cut parts.
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Computer AI
Throughout the duration of the project, our computer chess algorithm learned to check the location of chess pieces and to use the stepper motor gantry system to make basic chess moves. A pacifist at heart, it currently refuses to make captures, but we hope that in the future it learns to make more difficult moves such knights, captures, and castles so that it can finally achieve its dream of winning a game.