Personal Project

Hi everyone. Its started. Our biggest, most complicated project of the year. The Personal Project.

Basically, the personal project is, well, our own personal project (wow!). We find something we’re passionate in, and research, develop, prototype and present it. This is the very simple, very watered down of my next 110 days or so.

Anyways, here is the overview to my project.

Project description

I’m going to build an automatically moving Xiangqi set, where people with the same board can connect to a platform via Bluetooth or another method (platform TBD-most likely xiangqi.com) and play against each other through the board. This new chess product will help people all over the world connect together and be able to experience what the game is about, with the feel of a real board and the imitation of a real opponent playing in front of you.

Prototype design

The prototype will (most likely) have two looks.

1. Magnets and wheels: There will be circuits and magnets inside the board which will communicate with the pieces. The pieces will have extending and retracing wheels to physically move itself to its designated position, with magnetic guidance.
2. Robotic arm: A robotic arm is attached to the board with some form of connection, and with either magnetic sensors that communicate with the arm (like the first option) or an onboard camera pick up, move the pieces around like a hand.

Testing the Prototype

How am I going to test my prototype, you mat be asking. Wonderful question! I don’t know. I think depending on how much I can of this project I can complete, I will either:

1. test individual pieces (one or many) on one board, observe the wheels moving, the magnetic tracking, and the boards systems.
2. Build two sets of boards and pieces, and test the correspondence of the pieces moving on both of the boards (if everything above is achieved)

List of (potential) materials

Arduino boards

Wood

3D Printer

magnets

circuitry

Xiangqi pieces

wheels

Prototype creation (not in order)

I may work on some of these at the same time!

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• Design and work out the board: 2-3 weeks

First, I’m going to design the board, which will fit the circuits, magnets, and communication devices that will talk to the pieces.

• Design pieces: 2-3 weeks

Next, the pieces will have extendable and retractable wheels, along with a method to connect to the board and the system.

• Print the board, attach circuits and tech: 3-4 weeks

I would need to figure out how and where to put all the circuitry, the communication devices, and everything in between,

• Build the pieces: 4-5 weeks

After the board, I would need to individually build 34 pieces, connect each piece to the main connector, make sure they all work along with each other, and troubleshoot any potential problems.

• Coding: 3 weeks

I would then need to code the entirety of the game, including the niche rules like the flying general 飞将, how the cannon works and how the horse’s movement and collision physics would work as well. If I’m going to be honest, this is the part where I’m most concerned about, as I can’t code for sh*te.

What I plan on doing

There are a few things that I need to do to have a chance at succeeding in this project.

I’m going to be taking inspiration from the brand product “Chessnut”, and am probably going to buy a set to see how it works.

I also need to learn circuitry, different wireless connections, server hosting and maintenance, and coding.

If everything goes well from the above, I will then need to convince xiangqi.com to collaborate with me for this project. (more on this in a future post)

Conclusion

I have high hopes, but am also quite nervous. This is a do or die project, as I am (to my knowledge) one of the first people in the world to do this for this specific board game. If this works, I would be absolutely delighted, but I can already foresee that there are going to be many highs and lows, unexpected fails and massive successes, satisfying and frustrating moments and everything in between.

For now though, I’m truly exited to start, and I have already prepared and visualized many things to make this project (hopefully) smoother.

On that note, I’ll be signing off here.

Thanks for reading!

-Peejow

(this is my online video game name)