JavaOne 2013 Chess Robot
September 25, 2013

In the JavaOne 2013 technical keynote the Java team demonstrated a robot controlled by Java playing chess. It is powered by a RaspberryPi running JavaME controlling the motors via AdaFruit i2c servo controller. The chess board had 256 RGB LEDs under it 4 per square individually controlled via SPI bus. The robot was built using servo gear boxes, aluminum tubes and hardware from ServoCity.com. The grippers we 3D modeled and printed so they could be created to perfectly fit the chess pieces. The Java Duke chess pieces were 3D modeled then printed on a consumer 3D printer then melted with acetone vapor to give high gloss finish. They have little magnets in the feet and board which help if the robot is a little of position wise and also because duke has rounded feet.