Tactic — Automatic Chessboard

Problem

Most automatic chessboards are noisy, slow, or rely on bulky, visible robotics. The goal was to create a board that felt seamless and magical, with hidden mechanics that could sense and move pieces smoothly across the board as if by itself.

Approach

The system was designed as a thin, self-contained unit. A 2-axis CoreXY gantry with an electromagnet moves silently beneath the board's surface to position pieces. Key components included:

• Mechanics: CoreXY system with Trinamic silent stepper drivers for quiet, precise motion.
• Sensing: An array of reed switches and hall effect sensors for homing and calibration, with an RFID reader to identify each unique piece.
• Control: A central microcontroller running custom firmware to handle motion commands, sensing, and communication with a host application.
• Interface: A simple web UI provides a digital twin of the physical board and connects to a standard chess engine (Stockfish) for move validation and AI play.

Outcome

The prototype successfully demonstrated all core features: silent and smooth piece movement, accurate game state tracking via RFID, and reliable engine integration. It serves as a robust platform for further development, including enclosure design and a public API for online play.