Inspiration
To bring people together, to make online chess feel real, and to challenge ourselves to expand our knowledge in Arduino and Edison, wireless communication, and programming in general.
What it does
Edison Chess, in its current state, uses a chess board hooked up to WiFi to host a game between one player playing at a computer and one player playing on the physical board. The computer player chooses their move, and their corresponding piece on the physical board will make the same move using magnets and motors under the board. These two players can be anywhere in the world so long as they both have WiFi.
How we built it
MHacks provided most of the necessary hardware supplies, including the Intel Edison, an Arduino, various motors, and more. Piece movement is ran by a magnet connected to a series of motors that use polar coordinates for the piece pickup location and the destination. This rig was fitted inside of a chess board we made from foam board. The motors are driven by the Edison and the Arduino, which connect to WiFi and collect movement data from a web application controlled by the user.
Challenges we ran into
Learning the necessary JavaScript, Node.js, and circuitry skills in such a short time.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Achieved proof of concept of physical chess board that can play with an online player. Learned about wireless communication and improved our skills in JavaScript. Node.js, and Arduino.
What we learned
The most significant thing we learned was how to communicate between the Edison, the Arduino, and WiFi.
What's next for Edison Chess
Advancement beyond just being a proof of concept.
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