![]() The greatest challenge remains in the programming. In this way, the player would have no physical interaction with the computer as a function of communicating their move except in a way identical to the existing necessity of striking a time clock as is necessary in tournament play, creating a real face to face experience regardless of geographical differences between the players. This cycle would repeat ad nauseum until the completion of the game. ![]() The computer's map of the board would then be augmented with the absence of any captured stones in order to facilitate continued accurate tracking of the players moves. Any resulting captures would be noted by the server, and transmitted as a note to the player to ensure that the proper stones had been removed. Since only one stone is placed during a particular turn, the map would be compared with a map created from the players previous plus the robots turn and any resulting captures, and the coordinates of the singular new stone of the players color would be transmitted through the server as the players move. This image would be run through software designed to identify the positions and colors of stones on the goban based upon their contrast with the wood, and map their placement. Hitting the space bar would cue the computer to capture a photo through the downward facing camera. Upon the player, placing a stone, they would then hit the space bar on their computer keyboard, not unlike hitting the timer to signify the end of their turn. The camera would be mounted above the goban, facing directly down. I believe the solution is the use of a camera, whether an inexpensive webcam or any non-fisheye lens equipped camera. This additional action would invalidate the entire prospect of this project, which is to allow the player to play online go by only manipulating stones on a physical goban. The next, and greater, challenge is developing a way for the computer to sense the stones you have played on the goban without having to manually enter them into the computer. The arm can also be taught the location of a prisoner pile, allowing it to remove captured stones from the board, adding to the sense of having a real opponent facing you. The arm would pick up stones from this hopper to place on the board. A hopper could be built using a vertical piece of pipe and a slanted piece of hard plastic to automatically gravity-feed pieces to a repeatable position programmed to be taught to the arm. ![]() Anything similar to the UFactory Uarm could do the job, depending on the exact size of the player's goban. I believe the ideal Go playing robot arm is a multiple-articulating arm with a swing base and a vacuum suction gripper. Even better news is that a number of startups and companies exist that manufacture kits based off of open source materials which will allow the simple assemble of pre-built components and the download of potentially free open source software to create a fully functioning, go playing, robotic arm. Bearing in mind that the functions required to pick up and place a stone, this is very good news. However, thanks to the advent and rapid expansion of open source microcontroller platforms such as the Arduino, which can be purchased pre-built from a number of manufacturers or built from components costing less than a good steak at a fine restaurant, even moderately complex robots can be built on a modest budget. Well, that's mostly because it is somewhat difficult, in the sense that a very specific skillset is required, and could be expensive. I believe the solution to bringing online players into your home and onto your goban with real stones lies in robotics and software integration. The sensation of placing a cursor on a computer screen and clicking, whether or not the particular server endows you with an audio clip of a stone clacking onto a board, can never be quite as satisfying as real gameplay. Experienced players, even professionals, can log on to relax and play teaching games or challenge each other. This opens up huge opportunities for new players to rapidly gain highly varied experience which simply cannot be found by traveling to their local go club once a week. The awesome reality of the our time is that a large number of online go servers exist which allow instantaneous gameplay and communication with players of all skill levels, all around the world. Playing face to face, hands on stones on board, is undoubtedly the greatest joy of Go. ![]() There is nothing quite like the sensation of placing a stone on a wood goban. ![]()
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