Robochess as an A.I. Chess Playing Robot

The project illustrates the ability of the Robochess to recognize the movements of the opponents, picking up pieces, deciding about the next move, and uses LCD to display results.

An 8-bit AVR microcontroller is used to build this Robochess since the MCU is an ATmega128 that contains 4Kbyte of RAM and 128Kbyte of Flash memory. This provides high program memory for handling the chess game and controlling the software in a single microcontroller. At the bottom of the board are the 64 reed relays or magnetic sensors that cover the entire chessboard. The movement of each piece can be tracked due to the magnet in each piece and the chess pieces can be picked up by the movable hook.

The control board and power are the 2 boards that comprise the robot. The microcontroller, LCD, and connectors are contained in the control board while the relays, motor controls, and power section are in the power board. A 16-line flat cable is used to connect the sensors to the control board and the matrix is protected from inverse voltages using 64 diodes. A Schmitt trigger converts very low voltage to TTL levels.

Rest of the project