A maker using the Reddit handle Refeying says a Raspberry Pi 5-powered wooden chessboard has completed a full match, moving pieces with an under-board CoreXY mechanism and electromagnet. The build also tracks piece positions with Hall sensors, but it is still a work in progress: online play, voice commands and a finished LCD menu were not complete in the maker’s post.
How the board moves and tracks pieces
Refeying’s post describes a Raspberry Pi 5 paired with a Pico SKR V1.0 controller. The controller operates a CoreXY mechanism beneath the board, carrying an electromagnet that moves pieces across the surface. The maker also reports 64 omnidirectional Hall sensors on eight custom PCBs, connected through pin headers and an IO expander. These are the maker’s descriptions; the post does not identify exact models for the sensors, magnet, motion hardware or expander.
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That arrangement separates the task into two parts: the computer handles chess software, while a controller drives the physical mechanism. The sensors provide information about piece locations. The post does not give measured movement speed, positioning accuracy, power requirements or the Pi 5 memory configuration, so those details cannot be inferred from the reported successful match.
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Refeying says the board has run Stockfish, Maia3, Rodent IV and Patricia, and can record games in PGN format and save board positions so a game can be resumed after switching the board off. The maker’s post also lists momentary buttons, status LEDs and a 5-inch LCD set into a side wall.
#1 Best Overall
- Multiple Functions: Each of the six legs has three motors, the rotatable head has a camera and an ultrasonic distance sensor (Assembly required) (Raspberry Pi and Battery NOT included)
- Detailed Tutorial: Provides step-by-step assembly guide and complete Python code (The download link can be found on the product box) (No paper tutorial)
- Compatible Models: Raspberry Pi 5 / 4B / 3B+ / 3B / 3A+ (2B / 1B+ / 1A+ / Zero 2 W / Zero W / Zero 1.3 is also compatible but needs extra parts) (NOT included in this kit)
- Control Methods: Controlled wirelessly by your Android phone or tablet, iPhone (with Freenove App) and computer (run Windows, macOS or Raspberry Pi OS)
- Battery NOT Included: Please refer to the downloaded tutorial to buy
At the time of the post, connections to Lichess and Chess.com, voice-command input and a finished LCD menu were still in progress. The maker wrote: “Still a long road ahead, but truly happy that today, for the first time, I could sit down and play a full match with it :D!”
A build guide or code release was not established as available in the post. Refeying said a PDF or video guide and movement and logic code were planned after a more finished version; readers should treat those as plans, not published downloads.
Rank #2
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- Feature-rich and Adaptable: PiCar-X offers engaging applications like line following and obstacle avoidance, supports TTS (Text-to-Speech) and STT (Speech-to-Text) for interactive voice control, and includes a camera for video and vision recognition. It also comes with various sensors, while its customizable design enables a wide range of creative AI and robotics projects
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Captures, setup and moves around other pieces
The thread describes a practical constraint for physical games: captured pieces are placed in “graveyard” slots, filled in succession. Refeying says the player must be told where to put a piece so the board can register its location. That is a detail of this build, not a rule that applies to every automated chessboard.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsA commenter asked how the knight moves from the back rank when other pieces obstruct it. Refeying’s response describes routing the rook around the board’s edge after moving the king first during castling. For Chess960, the maker says the rook can first be moved to a corner as if it were a captured piece. These are the maker’s descriptions of how this board handles those cases; the post does not provide a complete move-handling specification.
Rank #3
- Multiple Functions: Crawler chassis, liftable clamp, camera and ultrasonic distance sensor (Assembly required) (Raspberry Pi and Battery NOT included)
- Detailed Tutorial: Provides step-by-step assembly guide and complete Python code (The download link can be found on the product box) (No paper tutorial)
- Compatible Models: Raspberry Pi 5 / 4B / 3B+ / 3B / 3A+ (2B / 1B+ / 1A+ / Zero 2 W / Zero W / Zero 1.3 is also compatible but needs extra parts) (NOT included in this kit)
- Control Methods: Controlled wirelessly by your Android phone or tablet, iPhone (with Freenove App) and computer (run Windows, macOS or Raspberry Pi OS)
- Battery NOT Included: Please refer to the downloaded tutorial to buy
How this approach differs from other chess robots
These documented projects illustrate different engineering choices; they are not head-to-head tests and do not show which design is cheapest, easiest, fastest or most reliable.
| Project | How it moves pieces | How it reads the board | Computing and control |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refeying’s wooden board | Under-board CoreXY mechanism carrying an electromagnet | 64 Hall sensors beneath the board, on eight custom PCBs | Raspberry Pi 5 with a Pico SKR V1.0 controller |
| Raspberry Pi Official Magazine’s automated chessboard | Electromagnet on aluminium rails, moved in two directions by stepper motors and belts | Not stated in the article | Arduino Nano provides control |
| ChessBot | Under-board, step-driven electromagnet gantry; pieces are magnetized | Magnetic sensors under the squares | README documents computer and online chess features and Stockfish installation; it also labels installation work in progress and lists PCB assembly and testing as tasks |
| Hailo AI RoboChess | Six-servo, 3D-printed arm controlled by an ESP32 | Camera-based chessboard image recognition | Raspberry Pi 5 with a Hailo8 processor, plus ESP32 control; the README warns that the example needs a customized PyHailort version and will not work with the standard release |
| Raspberry Turk | Robotic arm with an electromagnet; pieces have small metal dowel sections for pickup | Camera-based approach | Older Raspberry Pi 3 build; further division of control tasks is not stated in the feature |
The main trade-off is architectural. An under-board gantry keeps the moving mechanism hidden and can manipulate pieces from below, but needs a way to track piece locations and account for captures and blocked paths. A camera-and-arm design reads the board visually and reaches pieces from above, but must physically navigate around other pieces. The cited projects document these approaches; they do not establish a universal winner.
Rank #4
- Pi5 8GB Pack: RasTech Pi 5 8GB kit includes 1 x Pi5 8GB board ,1 x 64GB Card, 2 x Card Readers,1 x Active Cooler,1 x Case for Pi5, 2 x 4K Micro HD Out Cable,1 x GaN 27W 5A USB-C Power supply,1 x Screwdriver and 1 x instructions.
- Pi5 8GB Board: The Pi5 board is equipped with a 64-bit quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 processor running at 2.4GHz and an 800MHz VideoCore VII GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.2, which delivers a significant increase in graphics performance. Dual HD Out 4Kp60 display outputs and a built-in dual 4-channel MIPI camera/display transceiver provide state-of-the-art camera support. The Pi 5 offers a 2-3 times increase in CPU performance compare to Pi4.
- Important Graphics Features: Equipped with an 800MHz VideoCore VII GPU and providing better graphics performance, suitable for multimedia applications,gaming,and graphics intensive tasks.Provides 1 UART interface,1 card slot that supports high-speed operation, 2 USB. 3 0.5 ports that support synchronous 0Gbps operation,2 USB 2.0 port ports,2 4Kp60 display outputs that support HDR.Built-in dedicated dual 4-channel 1Gbps MIPI DSI/CSI connectors,triple the total bandwidth.
- Cooling Kit for Pi 5: Compatible with Active Cooler for Raspberry Pi5, It can provide Pi 5 board with better cooling effect in using. The Case can accurately access usb-c power jack,Micro HD Out ports, usb ports, Ethernet jack, card slot, power button, 4-lane MIPI DSI/CSI connectors and so on, and it also supports installation of cooling fan.
- 64GB Card Kit and GaN 27W USB-C Power Supply: With extra 64GB card to store more files and card readers for multiple medium, keep better performance for Raspberry Pi 5, 27W USB C Power Supply is Compatible with Pi5 8GB, offers a variety of output voltage options, including 5.1V at 5A, 9.0V at 3.0A, 12.0V at 2.25A, and 15.0V at 1.8A, providing for different device requirements.
What is known—and not known—about the build
The original post is the source for the component list and milestone. It does not provide exact part numbers for several components, measured performance, a parts budget, detailed build instructions or a confirmed public release of code. Anyone considering a build should use the post as a project description, not as a verified bill of materials or complete construction guide.
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