About the AutoBoard

, ,

About Us

At the time of writing, we are two high school seniors, Ethan and Garrett, interested in careers in software and mechanical engineering respectively. We are hoping to strengthen our skills in these areas as well as gain some real-world experience by creating a marketable product. We are also both passionate about chess and enjoy playing daily. Our love for chess and interest in software and hardware inspired us to create the AutoBoard.

About the AutoBoard

The AutoBoard is a physical chess board that can move pieces around the board by itself with no human intervention, as well as detect when a piece is moved by a human player. The board can be used as a standard game board, an interface to popular online chess site Lichess.org to play against online players, or to play against the built-in computer offline. The board also features an “idle” mode, in which live or historical games are streamed from Lichess. In addition, there will be a select few games to be stored locally in case internet access is not possible. Our goal is to change the way people play chess by seamlessly combining the versatility and convenience of online chess with the authenticity of playing on a traditional board.

Initial Design

Our initial plans for the board included an array of reed switches to detect magnets embedded inside wooden chess pieces. Pieces would be moved by an electromagnet on a CoreXY motion system. We planned to use a Raspberry Pi Zero W as the controller for the system, and a battery to allow for wireless games. Our board was to be made of wood, and we wanted it to have a minimalist look with as few protrusions from the board as possible.

Goals

  • Reliably detect the picking up and setting down of pieces on the board
  • Reliably and quickly move pieces from one square to another on the board
  • Have a built-in chess AI player
  • Connect to Lichess to be used as a board to play against other players
  • Connect to Lichess to stream live or historical games
  • Be aesthetically pleasing
  • Have an intuitive, web-based user interface hosted by the board itself

Documentation

This website will serve as the documentation for our process of planning, building, designing, and testing the board and its software. All code will also be made open-source, and we will attempt to also publish design files, part links, and everything else you need to build your own AutoBoard.

Website Home Page
Website Source Code
Board Source Code

We look forward to sharing our journey with you.