Top 5 Specifications and Constraints – Interactive Chess Board

For my Interactive Chess Board, there are a few goals and considerations to take into account. They are as follows:

Specifications:

• Players must be able to pick up and move pieces in the same fashion as a regular Chess Board.
• The Chess Board must be clear in its use of color to demarcate where pieces can and cannot be moved to.
• The Chess Board must feature some indicator for players to “reset” the board properly.
• White and Black squares must be easily identifiable whilst still being able to light up with colors such as Red, Green, and Blue.
• The internal wiring for the Chess Board must be entirely concealed, with ports on the sides to allow for Arduino-USB connection to the computer, and for the external power source to plug in.

Constraints:

• Using Hall Effect magnet sensors makes it impossible to physically determine the type of piece being detected on the square.
• To supplement this problem, the board must be “reset” to its starting position for the Arduino to correctly assume which pieces correspond to the different squares.
•  The magnets in the chess pieces are powerful enough to repel other pieces off their square. A secondary grid is necessary to prevent pieces from being pushed out of place.
• The size of the Neopixel grids dictate the size of the Chess Board. It will be larger than a traditional playing board, but cannot be too unwieldy to transport.
• Ideally, I would be able to store the pieces inside the board during transit, but due to the wiring inside, this is an unpractical goal.