45 International Journal of Engineering Issues Vol. 2015, no. 2, pp. 45-51 ISSN: 2458-651X Copyright © Infinity Sciences Automated Chess Playing with a Robot Manipulator Dimitrija Angelkov, Natasa Koceska, Saso Koceski Faculty of Computer Science, University Goce Delcev - Stip, Stip, Macedonia Email: saso.koceski@ugd.edu.mk. Abstract- This paper describes a system for automated chess playing with a robot manipulator. Customized chess engine is used to implement chess rules, to evaluate the board position during the game and to compute the next move of the robot using the alpha-beta search algorithm. This work contributes to the recent trends for creating automated robotic games and introduction of non-standard human-computer interfaces. Keywords: robot manipulator, computer vision, human – computer interaction, board games. I. INTRODUCTION Board games have been very popular since ancient times and have been played in all cultures and societies. Main characteristic of all board games is that they are based on movement of various objects over a specifically designed board according to pre-defined set of rules. Most of the popular board games in the history are a sort of adaptation of a real battle between armies. Even contemporary board games are implementing the logic of defeating the opponent. Learning curve strongly depends on the type of game and the complexity of its rules. However, some of the board games simple set of rules but, in order to master the game the player must develop profound strategies. One of these games is the chess game. Chess is a popular game among all ages, from young children to elderly adults. It is a game that exercise the brain and develops mental abilities as concentration, critical thinking, abstract reasoning, problem solving, pattern recognition, strategic planning, creativity etc.[1-6]. Playing chess includes various phases such as: perception of the board and game pieces, perception of the opponent, reasoning about the game state, and manipulation of the physical pieces while coordinating with the opponent. Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a checkered game board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. The two opponents can be human, or human and robot (computer). Advanced computer technology allows creating a computer games that mimic the human behavior. Such games are traditionally played with input devices like keyboard and mouse. Nowadays other means of interaction have been investigated that let user to focus on content rather than on input device [7-11]. Variety of chess automata developed through the history advocate that the robotic chess game could be very interesting from entertainment perspective. Historically, the Turk, was probably the first mechanical device aimed at chess playing automation. It was presented in the eighties of the eighteen century, as a clockwork machine that played chess. Although the real working mechanism is still not clear because the original Turk machine has being destroyed in a fire, according to various written reports from that times, one can conclude that it was not autonomous at all. The Turk used magnetically instrumented chess pieces that enabled the operator to sense the game state via the brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by UGD Academic Repository