Problem Statement

As part of our Innovations School residency, we wanted to address the SDG goal of reduced inequality by making chess more accessible for blind and disabled people who can’t use their limbs.

Idea

To make a voice-controlled automatic chess board which uses voice commands to move the pieces

Objectives

• Building a 2 axis movement system using stepper motors
• Processing voice commands
• Using the stepper motor to move the chess piece into the designated spot

Final Project idea /Solution

A 2-axis-movement-system based device that uses voice modulation to move the chess pieces.

• Board will be bigger than standard 8×8 so that pieces don’t collide
• Magnets embedded inside each of the chess pieces (neodymium magnets)
• Hall effect sensor on each square to detect the position of pieces
• Electromagnets on each square where we connect the actuator to Arduino
• Wiring of the stepper motor to the Arduino and CNC shield
• Code for Arduino to control the movements of chess piece ( code reads sensor data to see
  the presence of pieces, progresses with the moves, sends data to stepper motor to move the
  actual piece )
• Connection between Arduino and microphone so we can use voice to move the pieces
• The Arduino will send a signal to the electromagnet which will activate it and produce a
  magnetic field
• This will attract the magnet inside the chess piece
• The chess piece will be lifted off the chess board ( floats/hovers on the board )
• The actuator then does the movement to the target square ( using a 2 axis movement
  system – the same movement which happens in 3D printers )
• The electromagnet is deactivated and the chess piece, which was floating, returns to the
  board. The actuator returns to its original position.

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