Autonomous Chess Playing Robot

Abstract

Autonomous Chess Playing Robot is a robot that can challenge a human's chess playing ability in a tangible environment with its varying difficulty level. As any other autonomous robot, ACPR is based upon three pillars, viz. electronics, programming, and mechanical design. The robot consists of a customized chess board below which LDR sensors have been fabricated on a PCB (Printed Circuit Board). Multiplexers also being laid on PCB provide a way for one-way serial communication between sensors and microcontroller. Linear sliders facilitate horizontal and vertical movement of the gripper to move a piece from one position to other. The linear sliders use rack and pinion mechanism while the gripper uses the concept of four bar linkage mechanism. The crucial element of the robot i.e. the intelligence has been incorporated with the help of MinMax algorithm supported by alpha-beta pruning. The microcontroller is connected to a computer terminal by a USB and the chess engine code runs on the computer terminal itself.