US20080237983A1

US20080237983A1 - Portable robotic board game playing system

Info

Publication number: US20080237983A1
Application number: US11/747,065
Authority: US
Inventors: Jung-Mao Chien
Original assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute ITRI
Current assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute ITRI
Priority date: 2007-03-29
Filing date: 2007-05-10
Publication date: 2008-10-02
Also published as: TW200838591A; TWI347853B

Abstract

A portable robotic board game playing system is disclosed, which comprises: a chessboard unit; a fetching unit and a control unit. The chessboard unit is composed of a board frame and a plurality of game pieces. The fetching unit is movable for grasping any one of the plural game pieces. The control unit, being electrically connected to the chessboard unit and the fetching unit, is capable of detecting statuses of the chessboard unit and the fetching unit so as to generate a control signal accordingly. With the aforesaid portable robotic board game playing system, a board game can be played by a user using actual game pieces with lifelike sense of realization against the robotic board game playing system itself or a remote user. In addition, the portable robotic board game playing system can be used exactly as an ordinary chessboard.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a portable robotic board game playing system, and more particularly, to a board game playing system that not only is portable and can be used exactly as an ordinary chessboard, but also can be used to play against a player stationed at a remote end wirelessly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With rapid advance of medical and health care technology as well as the uplifting nutrition level of our daily diet and the dropping of birth rate, the elder population is rapidly expanding as life expectancy is increasing. The life expectancy nowadays can be as long as twenty years after retirement. For those retired elders, except for some getting oneself reemployed, volunteering as social worker, or helping household duties, most elders have plenty of leisure time in their hand. Thus, it is important to provide recreational activities for such expanding elder population, so that not only the elders can adapt to their retirement life more comfortable and easily, but also it can boost the elder the self-confidence as well as slow down the degeneration that comes with aging. Statistically, leisure activities participated by most elder are static recreations, such as TV watching, chess playing, music listening, poker playing, or visiting acquaintances, etc. Among those, the chess and poker playing are considered to be the most healthy activities since they are beneficiary for maintaining the mental healthy of the elders and also help to slow down the degeneration that comes with aging.
Currently, there are many video game platforms and computer game software available on the market, which are designed for playing board games, such as Chinese chess, chess and the game of go, and so on. In most such board games, they are usually being played by the use of a controlling device, such as keyboard or joystick, that presents no difficulty for youngsters, but can be hard to accept for elders as it provides no on-site feeling and no gratification of actual holding a chess piece, and for that reason, it is hard for elders to have fun playing such video chess game and thus their interest of participating such game playing activity is low. In addition, as most devices for playing such video chess game are usually bulky and can only be operable with matching TV set of computer monitor that it is impossible to be carried and played anytime anywhere.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the disadvantages of prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide a portable robotic board game playing system, which not only is designed to be light-weighted and handy with good portability and can be used exactly as an ordinary chessboard, but also can be used to play against a player stationed at a remote end wirelessly.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a portable robotic board game playing system, comprising: a chessboard unit, composed of a board frame and a plurality of chess pieces; a fetching unit, being movably mounted for grasping and releasing any one of the plural chess pieces; and a control unit, electrically connected to the chessboard unit and the fetching unit for enabling the same to detect statuses of the chess board unit and the fetching unit so as to generate a control signal accordingly; wherein the board frame is further comprised of: at least a chess board, capable of being connected to a base in a detachable manner; the base, for accommodating the at least one chess board, the fetching unit and the control unit.
In an embodiment, the base is structured with a slot, provided for the at least one chessboard to insert therein so as to connect the at least one chessboard with the base. Moreover, a signal sensing device is disposed at a position between the control unit and the at least one chessboard in a manner that as soon as the at least one chess board is connected to the base, the signal sensing device is triggered for enabling the control unit to evaluate and determine the type of the base-connected chess board. In addition, the signal sensing device can be a resistor.
In another embodiment, the fetching unit is further comprised of: a grasping/releasing means, capable of being activated to attract magnetic parts fitted upon the plural chess pieces; and a driving device, used for driving the grasping/releasing means to perform a movement selected from the group consisting of a horizontal displacement and a vertical displacement; wherein the grasping/releasing means is further composed of: an axle, extending vertically by a specific length while being fitted with a magnetic part capable of being activated to attract magnetic parts fitted upon the plural chess pieces; and a linkage part, connected to the axle to be driven to move with the axle synchronously; and the driving device is further comprised of: a first carrier, used for carrying the grasping/releasing means in a manner that the grasping/releasing means can be driven to move reciprocatively along an inner axis of the first carrier; a second carrier, for carrying the first carrier; and a transmission apparatus, connected to the first and the second carriers to be used for driving the first and the second carriers to move.
In the aforesaid driving device, the transmission apparatus is comprised of: a driving motor, for power providing; and a transmission part, connected to the driving motor, the first and the second carriers to be used for transmitting the power of the driving motor to the first and the second carriers for driving the two to move. In addition, the transmission part is a component selected from the group consisting of a screw rod, a guide rod, a gear rack, a belt, a toothed belt, a gear, a pulley and the assembly thereof; and the driving motor can be a stepping motor, a direct current (DC) motor, or a servo motor, etc.
In the aforesaid driving device, the first carrier is able to move reciprocatively along a first path and the second carrier is able to move reciprocatively along a second path, whereas the first path is perpendicular to the second path and the first carrier can be moving non-synchronously with the movement of the second carrier. Accordingly, the second carrier can be comprised of: two longitudinal supporting racks, symmetrically arranged at two sides of the board frame while each extending along its corresponding side by a specific length; and a transverse supporting rack, being disposed between the two longitudinal supporting racks while extending transversely by a specific length. Thereby, the control unit is able to direct the two longitudinal supporting racks to slide and move synchronously along the two sides of the board frame while bringing along the transverse supporting rack to move above the board frame.
Moreover, a sliding mechanism is disposed between the first carrier and the transverse supporting rack of the second carrier for enabling the first carrier to move reciprocatively in a direction parallel to the extending length of the transverse supporting rack. The sliding mechanism can be a device comprised of: a slide groove, parallelly arranged along the extending length of the transverse supporting rack; and a slide wheel, capable of sliding in the slide groove; or can be a device comprised of: a guide rod, parallelly arranged along the extending length of the transverse supporting rack; and a bearing, slidably mounted on the guide rod.
In an embodiment of the invention, a first magnetic part is fitted upon grasping/releasing means while each of the plural chess pieces is fitted with a second magnetic part in a manner that the grasping/releasing means is capable of being activated to attract any of the plural chess pieces. Wherein, the first magnetic part can be a magnet while each of the second magnetic part can be a metallic piece capable of being attracted by the magnet, or vice versa.
In another embodiment, a reed switch module is to be disposed between the plural chess pieces and the at least one chess board of the chessboard unit, which comprises: a plurality of magnets, respectively fitted upon the plural chess pieces; a plurality of sensor, arranged at the at least one chess board, each capable of sensing the magnetism of any of the plural magnets and thus generating a sensing signal accordingly; and a circuit device, electrically connecting the reed switch module to the control unit so as to transmitting the sensing signal and the control signal of the control unit.
In an embodiment of the invention, the control unit comprises: a signal processing unit, for evaluating and processing signals received thereby; and a chess software unit, capable of controlling the operation of the portable robotic board game playing system for executing a chess playing program; wherein the chess software unit further comprises a transmission interface, used for connecting to an external device by a manner selected from the group consisting of a wireless manner and a wired manner.
Moreover, the aforesaid transmission interface can be a device selected from the group consisting of an universal serial bus (USB) interface, a serial bus, a parallel bus, and an IEEE 1394 bus and the likes.
In an embodiment of the invention, the portable robotic board game playing system further comprises: a wireless transmission unit, electrically connected to the control unit and capable of transmitting data to a remote end; wherein the wireless transmission unit further comprises a web cam, used for capturing images. Moreover, the portable robotic board game playing system further comprises: an audio/video unit, electrically connected to the control unit and capable of receiving and displaying signals relating to the operating of the portable robotic board game playing system.
In addition, the wireless transmission unit can be a device adapted for a communication system selected from the group consisting of: the 3^rdgeneration communication system, the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) communication system, the Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) communication system, and the Ultra-WideBand (UWB) communication system.
Moreover, the audio/video unit further comprises: an inputting device; for inputting multimedia signals into the portable robotic board game playing system; and an outputting device, for outputting the multimedia signals received by the portable robotic board game playing system; wherein the inputting device is substantially a component selected from the group consisting of a keyboard, a touch panel, a microphone and the likes as well as the combination thereof; and the outputting device is substantially a component selected from the group consisting of a display, a speaker and the likes as well as the combination thereof.
It is noted that the portable robotic board game playing system further includes a power unit, used as the power source of the portable robotic board game playing system, that it can be a device selected from the group consisting of a battery, a rechargeable battery and an external power source, and the likes.
Moreover, a plurality of security devices can be included in the portable robotic board game playing system, each of which is electrically connected to the control unit for enabling the control unit to determine whether each and every one of the plural security devices is being triggered simultaneously. It is noted that the plural security devices are so-distributed that they can not be touched simultaneously by one single average adult-sized palm.
To achieve the above object, the present invention further provides an operation method of a portable robotic board game playing system, which comprises the steps of: enabling a player to exercise a move in a chess game executing in the portable robotic board game playing system; pressing a confirmation key; enabling the portable robotic board game playing system to acquire positioning data of chess pieces used in the chess game; reasoning out a system-move while informing the system with positioning of a chess piece relating to the system-move; directing the fetching unit to grasp the chess piece of the system-move while moving the grasped chess piece to a position specified by the system-move; and resetting the fetching unit.
Moreover, as the confirmation key is connected to a control unit, the control unit will execute an evaluation for determine whether the move of the player is legitimate with respect to the chess game. In addition, an audio/video unit is connected to the control unit to be used for receiving and displaying signals relating to the operating of the portable robotic board game playing system.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a portable robotic board game playing system according to en embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 are schematic diagrams showing steps of using a fetching unit to perform a move for moving a chess piece in a chess game executing in the portable robotic board game playing system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting a portable robotic board game playing system of the invention.

FIG. 7 shows a chess board suitable to be used in a portable robotic board game playing system of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

For your esteemed members of reviewing committee to further understand and recognize the fulfilled functions and structural characteristics of the invention, several embodiments cooperating with detailed description are presented as the follows.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a portable robotic board game playing system according to en embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 1, the portable robotic board game playing system is comprised of a chessboard unit 10, a fetching unit 20 and a control unit 30. The chessboard unit is composed of a board frame 11 and a plurality of game pieces 12, in which the board frame 11 is further comprised of at least a chess board 111 and a base 112, capable of accommodating the at least one chess board 111, the fetching unit 20 and the control unit 30. Moreover, the fetching unit 20 is movable for grasping any one of the plural game pieces 12; and the control unit 30 is electrically connected to the chessboard unit 10 and the fetching unit 20 so as to be used for detecting statuses of the chessboard unit 10 and the fetching unit 20 and thus generating a control signal accordingly. It is noted that the whole portable robotic board game playing system can be powered by a power source, which can be a battery, a rechargeable battery or an external power source, etc.
As seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a reed switch module is to be disposed between the plural chess pieces 12 and the at least one chess board 111 of the chessboard unit 10, which comprises a plurality of magnets 121, a plurality of sensor 114 and a circuit device 115. Among which, each magnet 121 is fitted upon one corresponding chess pieces 12 to be used for generating magnetism; and each sensor device 114 is arranged at a position under one corresponding chess position 113 of the at least one chess board 111 so as to be used for sensing the magnetism of any of the plural magnets 121 and thus generating a sensing signal accordingly; and the circuit device 115 is electrically connecting the plural sensors 114 to the control unit 30, thereby, not only the sensing signal generated when the sensor 114 is triggered by the presence of a chess piece 12, i.e. the sensor 114 detect the magnetism of a magnet 121, can be transmitted to the control unit 30 by the circuit device 115, but also the control signal of the control unit 30 can be transmitted to the sensor 114. In addition, for the Chinese chess board shown in FIG. 1, each of the chess positions 113 is defined to be located at the intersect of any two grid lines.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, each chess board 111 is capable of being connected to the base 112 in a detachable manner, which is realized by structuring a slot 116 in the base 112 to be provided for each chess board 111 to insert therein, by which each chess board 111 can be drawn out of and inserted into the base 112 easily. It is noted that although there is a Chinese chess board being shown in FIG. 1, the chess board can be a board for chess, Chinese checkers or other board games. As there can be more than one type of chess board being inserted into the slot 116 of the base 112, it is required to have a signal sensing device to be disposed at a position between the control unit 30 and the at least one chess board 111 in a manner that as soon as one chess board is connected to the base 112, the signal sensing device is triggered for enabling the control unit 30 to evaluate and determine the type of the base-connected chess board 111. The can be many devices and means capable of being used as the signal sensing device, such as resistors, etc., only if it is capable of evaluating whether a chess board 111 is already inserted into the base 112 and then is capable of determining the type of the chess board 111 is.
As seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a fetching unit 20 is mounted on top of the base 112 in a manner that it can be move freely to any chess position of the chess board 111 so as to be used for grasping and releasing any one of the plural chess pieces 12. In an embodiment of the invention, the fetching unit 20 is further comprised of: a grasping/releasing means 21, capable of being activated to attract magnetic parts fitted upon the plural chess pieces 12; a first carrier 22, used for carrying the grasping/releasing means 21; a second carrier 23, for carrying the first carrier 22. Wherein, the grasping/releasing means 21 is further composed of an axle 211 and a linkage part 212; wherein the axle 211 is extending vertically by a specific length while being fitted with a magnetic part or made of magnetic metal capable of being attracted by the magnets fitted upon the plural chess pieces 12; and the linkage part 212 is connected to the axle to be driven to move with the axle 212 synchronously. In addition, the grasping/releasing means 21 is pivotally connected and received inside the first carrier 22 in a manner that it can be driven to move along an axial direction reciprocatively; and as the axle 211 is fitted with a magnetic part or made of magnetic metal, it can attract any chess piece 12. For those skilled in the art, a first magnetic part is fitted upon the axle 22 while each of the plural chess pieces 12 is fitted with a second magnetic part in a manner that the axle 211 is capable of being activated to attract any of the plural chess pieces 12 as the polarity of the first magnetic part is different from those of the second magnetic parts.
In FIG. 1, the second carrier 23 is composed of two longitudinal supporting racks 231 and one transverse supporting rack 232, together forming a “
”-shaped structure striding over the board frame 11. The two longitudinal supporting racks 231 are symmetrically arranged at two sides of the board frame 11 while each extending along its corresponding side by a specific length; and the transverse supporting rack 232 is disposed between the two longitudinal supporting racks 231 while extending transversely by a specific length.
In the aforesaid board game playing system, a transmission apparatus is disposed between and connected to the control unit 30, the first and the second carriers 22, 23, by which the first and the second carriers 22, 23 can be driven to move according to the directions of the control unit 30 in a manner that the first carrier 22 is able to move reciprocatively along a first path A and the second carrier 23 is able to move reciprocatively along a second path B, whereas the first path A is perpendicular to the second path B. It is noted that the power of the transmission apparatus for propelling the reciprocating movements of the first and the second carriers 22, 23 can be provided by a variety of driving devices, such as a stepping motor, a direct current (DC) motor, or a servo motor, etc., by which the transmission parts configured in the transmission apparatus, such as screw rods, guide rods, gear racks, belts, toothed belts, gears, pulleys and the assembly thereof, can be driven for enabling the first carrier 22 to move non-synchronously or synchronously with the movement of the second carrier 23. Similarly, another transmission apparatus is mounted between the grasping/releasing means 21 and the control unit 30 to be used for controlling the reciprocating movement of the grasping/releasing means 21. As seen in FIG. 2, a pulley 221 is fitted on the top of the first carrier 22 while a sliding groove 2321 is formed on the transverse supporting rack 232 of the second carrier 23 following a direction parallel to the extending direction of the transverse supporting rack 232, that is the same as the extending of the first path A. In addition, the pulley 221 is designed to slide inside the sliding groove 2321. However, the aforesaid assembly of pulley 221 and sliding groove 2321 can be replaced by an assembly of matching guide rod and bearing, or other assembly configuring by screw rods, gear racks, belts, toothed belts, or gears, and so on, for achieving the same functionality of the pulley 221 and sliding groove 2321.
Please refer to FIG. 2 to FIG. 5, which are schematic diagrams showing steps of using a fetching unit to perform a move for moving a chess piece in a chess game executing in the portable robotic board game playing system. In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the grasping/releasing means 21 along with the first carrier 22 is first being positioned on top of a chess piece 12 intended to be fetched at the chess position 113, and then the axle 211 inside the grasping/releasing means 21 is driven to drop so as to use the magnetic part 121 fitted upon the axle 211 to attract and draw the intended chess piece 12 to adhere on the bottom of the axle 211, as shown in FIG. 4. After the intended chess piece 12 is attracted to adhere on the axle 211, the axle 211 is raised slightly and then the grasping/releasing means 21 is driven to move from the chess position 113 to another chess position 113 a. In FIG. 5, the axle is again to be driven to raise by a specific height until it is being received inside the first carrier 22, thereby, the fetched chess piece 12 can be forced to detach from the axle 211 and fall on the chess position 113 a. It is noted that the aforesaid steps relating to the grasping and releasing of the chess piece 12 are all being perform under the control of the control unit 30. In addition, the two sensors 114, 114 a, respectively corresponding to the two chess positions 113, 113 a, are to be triggered by the action of the magnetic part 12 and thus issue sensing signals in respective, which are to be transmitted to the control unit 30 by the circuit device 115.
Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a block diagram depicting a portable robotic board game playing system of the invention. As seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, the control unit 30, used for controlling every operation of the portable robotic board game playing system, includes a signal processing unit 31 and a chess software unit 32. The signal processing unit 31 capable of evaluating and processing signals received thereby; and the chess software unit 32 is capable of controlling the operation of the portable robotic board game playing system for executing a chess playing program. Moreover, the chess software unit 32 is further comprised of a transmission interface 33, which is used for connecting the system to an external device in a wired or wireless manner. It is noted that the transmission interface 33 can be a device selected from the group consisting of an universal serial bus (USB) interface, a serial bus, a parallel bus, and an IEEE 1394 bus and the likes. In an embodiment of the invention, the portable robotic board game playing system can be connected to a computer through the transmission interface 33 so as to update the chess program installed in the chess software unit 32 or to download/upload records of famous chess game played between experts.
In another embodiment of the invention, an audio/video unit 40 is connected to the control unit 30, which is used for receiving and displaying signals relating to the operating of the portable robotic board game playing system. The audio/video unit 40 includes an inputting device 41 and an outputting device 42; wherein the inputting device 41 is used for inputting multimedia signals into the portable robotic board game playing system, which can be a device selected from the group consisting of a keyboard, a touch panel, a microphone and the likes. As shown in FIG. 1, the inputting device 41 is substantially a touch panel 41 b, which enables a player of the system to input commands or select an icon of the played chess game simply by a touch of the touch panel 41 b. The outputting device 42 is used for outputting the multimedia signals received by the portable robotic board game playing system, which can be a device selected from the group consisting of a display, a speaker and the likes. As seen in FIG. 1, the outputting device 42 is substantially a speaker 42 b for issuing a voice signal, such as “correct”, “error”, “done”, and so on, and thereby providing a kind of on-site feeling. In addition, the touch panel 41 b can also be used as an outputting device 42 since it can be enabled to display information relating to the chess game played in the portable robotic chess game playing system of the invention.
By the use of the portable robotic chess game playing system of the invention, a player not only can play a chess game against the robotic chess game playing system itself, but also can play against another player located at en remote end. The aforesaid remote playing function is enabled by a wireless transmission unit 50 connected to the control unit 30, which can be a device adapted for a communication system selected from the group consisting of: the 3^rdgeneration communication system, the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) communication system, the Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) communication system, the Ultra-WideBand (UWB) communication system and the likes. By the use of the wireless transmission unit 50, the portable robotic chess game playing system is able to perform a data transmission operation with a remote end in a wireless manner. As seen in FIG. 1, the wireless transmission unit 50 further comprises a web cam 51, capable of capturing images and then transmitting the capture images to a remote end through the wireless transmission unit 50. When a web cam 50 is used, the touch panel 41 b is designated to function as a displaying device for displaying images of the remote player, and the same time that the speaker 42 a is able to output voice signal, so that the two players are able to see and talk to each other.
With the aforesaid structure of the portable robotic chess game playing system, an operation method for portable robotic board game playing system can be provided, which comprises the steps of:

- (a) enabling a player to place each of the plural chess pieces 12 at its initial position on a chess board 111 to be played;
- (b) pressing a confirmation key after the player acknowledge that all the chess pieces 12 are placed at their initial positions;
- (c) using the control unit 30 to direct and move the fetching unit 30 to an initial position, which can be a predetermined location away from the chess board 111, such as a corner of the base 112 of the board frame 10, so that the player's view to the chess board 111 is cleared;
- (d) enabling the player to exercise a move in the chess game executing in the portable robotic board game playing system, and then pressing the confirmation key 41 a, whereas the move can be the picking up and taking one of the plural chess pieces 12 off from the chess board 111; moreover, if the move is the first move of a new chess game and the player is not exercise any move for a specific period of time, the system will exercise an evaluation for determining whether the system is to play the first move, that is, at the initial of the a new chess game and after the player is not exercise any move for a specific period time, being defined by the signal processing unit 31 of the control unit 30, the outputting device is directed to issue an inquiry, such as the speaker 42 a is enabled to issue a voice of “system will made the first move”, or the touch panel 41 b is enabled to display characters of “system will made the first move”;
- (e) enabling the control unit 30 to acquire positioning data of chess pieces used in the chess game relating to which chess piece 12 is being take off from the chess board 111 or which chess piece 12 is being move from one position to another in the move of the player after the confirmation key 41 a is being pressed, and then reasoning out by the chess program installed in the chess software unit 32 to determine whether the move is legitimate with respect to the played chess game; if the move is legitimate, the speaker 42 a is enabled to issue a voice of “correct”, or the touch panel 41 b is enabled to display characters of “correct”; if the move is illegitimate, the speaker 42 a is enabled to issue a voice of “error”, or the touch panel 41 b is enabled to display characters of “error”;
- (f) enabling the control unit 30 to direct the chess software unit 32 to reasoning out a system-move, that is, to determine which chess piece 12 should be taken off from the chess board 111 in correspondence to the move of the player, or which chess piece 12 should be moved from its current position to another position corresponding to the player's move;
- (g) enabling the control unit 30 to direct the fetching unit 20 to move to a position corresponding to the system-move for grasping the chess piece 12 designated by the system-move and move the grasped chess piece to a position defined by the system-move, or taking off the chess piece 12 designated by the system-move from the chess board 111;
- (h) enabling the outputting device to issue a signal indicating that the system-move is accomplished, such as the speaker 42 a is enabled to issue a voice of “done”, or the touch panel 41 b is enabled to display characters of “done”;
- (i) using the control unit 30 to direct and move the fetching unit 30 back to its initial position, so that the player's view to the chess board 111 is cleared;
- (j) enabling the player to play another move;
- (k) repeating step (e) to step (j) until the chess game is completed.

It is noted that at the starting of the a chess game, the player can direct the touch panel 41 to display correct initial positions for each and every chess piece 12 to be placed on the chess board 111, thereby, the player can place the plural chess piece accordingly so that the setup time for a new chess game can be shortened as the error of missing placing a chess piece 12 can be avoid. In addition, an error-checking program can be installed in the chess software unit 32 so as to be used for detecting whether the plural chess pieces 12 are being placed at their corresponding correct initial positions.
In order to ensure the safety of the player for preventing the operating fetching unit 20 from accidentally strike the player, a vocal signal will be issue by the robotic system of the invention for alerting the player to move his/her hands out of the working area of the fetching unit 20 after the confirmation key 41 a is pressed. In an embodiment, a plurality of security devices can be included in the portable robotic board game playing system, each of which can be a touch-sensing device such as a press-key and is electrically connected to the control unit 30 for enabling the control unit 30 to determine whether each and every one of the plural security devices is being triggered simultaneously by the player. It is noted that the plural security devices are distributed respectively at the two sides of the base 112 within two areas corresponding to the two hands of the player in a manner that they can not be touched simultaneously by one single average adult-sized palm. As the plural security devices is connected to the control unit 30, the control unit 30 will be advised whether the two hand of the player are safety rested upon the areas of the plural security devices, that is all of the plural security devices are triggered at the same time, and the control unit 30 will activate the fetching unit 20 to move only if it is advised that any parts of the player's body is out of the working area of the fetching unit 20, thereby, the safety of the player can be ensured. In addition, for those skilled in the art, it is without question that the aforesaid security device can be replaced an infrared sensor that still can function to ensure the safety of the player.
When a player is intended to use the portable robotic chess game playing system to play a chess game against another player at a remote end operating another such portable robotic chess game playing system, he/her can achieve so simply by directing the wireless transmission unit 50 to connect the system with the remote end. After the connection is achieved, the status of the portable robotic chess game playing system can be transmitted to the control unit 30 of the remote end so that if a move is played by the player, such move will be transmitted to the remote end and the control unit 30 of the remote end will then direct the remote fetching unit 20 to move a corresponding chess piece with respect to the move, and vice versa. Thereby, the player as well as the remote player can be aware of the progress of the chess game on one's respective chess board by the operation of one's portable robotic chess game playing system. In addition, the images of the two players can be acquired respectively by one's corresponding web cam 51 and transmitted by their corresponding wireless transmission units 50 to be received and seen by each other, thereby, the two players can interact with each other in real person and thus it is more fun to the game.
Please refer to FIG. 7, which shows a chess board suitable to be used in a portable robotic board game playing system of the invention. The chess board 111 of FIG. 7 is used for playing chess and is matched with chess pieces 12 suitable for the game. Similarly, a base 112 matching the chess board 111 is provided that it also is structured with a slot 116 for the chess board 111 to insert therefrom. Thereby, a board frame 11 is achieved by the assembly of the base 112 and the chess board 111, and thus, a chessboard unit 10 can be accomplished by the plural chess pieces 12 and the board frame 11. As seen in FIG. 7, there is also a fetching unit 20 movable mounted on the chessboard unit 10, whereas a control unit 30, arranged inside the base 112, is electrically connected to the chessboard unit 10 and the fetching unit 20 for enabling the control unit 30 to detect statuses of the chessboard unit 10 and the fetching unit 20 and thus generating control signals accordingly. Moreover, the control unit 30 is electrically connected to a transmission interface 22, a confirmation key 41 a, a touch panel 41 b, a speaker 42 a, a web cam 51, which are all functioning the same as the those in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and thus are not described further herein.
To sum up, the portable robotic chess game playing system of the invention employs techniques of embedded programming, chess software, mechanism design and control, electric circuit design, wired/wireless data transmission, and so on, to achieve the object that it can enable a player to play a chess game against another player at remote end interactively by the use of real chess piece. Not to mention that it can be used exactly as an ordinary chessboard. In addition, the portable robotic chess game playing system is light-weighted and handy with good portability.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A portable robotic board game playing system, comprising:

a chessboard unit, composed of a board frame and a plurality of chess pieces;

a fetching unit, being movably mounted for grasping and releasing any one of the plural chess pieces; and

a control unit, electrically connected to the chessboard unit and the fetching unit for enabling the same to detect statuses of the chessboard unit and the fetching unit so as to generate a control signal accordingly.

2. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 1, wherein the board frame is further comprised of:

at least a chess board;

a base, for accommodating the at least one chess board, the fetching unit and the control unit

3. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 2, wherein the at least one chess board is capable of being connected to the base in a detachable manner.

4. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 3, wherein the base is structured with a slot, provided for the at least one chess board to insert therein so as to connect the at least one chess board with the base.

5. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 3, wherein a signal sensing device is disposed at a position between the control unit and the at least one chess board that as soon as the at least one chess board is connected to the base, the signal sensing device is triggered for enabling the control unit to evaluate and determine the type of the base-connected chess board.

6. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 1, wherein the fetching unit is further comprised of:

a grasping/releasing means, being fitted with a magnetic part capable of being activated to attract other magnetic parts fitted upon the plural chess pieces; and

a driving device, used for driving the grasping/releasing means to move.

7. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 6, wherein the grasping/releasing means is further composed of:

an axle, extending vertically by a specific length while being fitted with a magnetic part capable of being activated to attract magnetic parts fitted upon the plural chess pieces; and

a linkage part, connected to the axle to be driven to move with the axle synchronously

8. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 6, wherein the driving device is further comprised of:

a first carrier, used for carrying the grasping/releasing means in a manner that the grasping/releasing means can be driven to move reciprocatively along an inner axis of the first carrier;

a second carrier, for carrying the first carrier; and

a transmission apparatus, connected to the first and the second carriers to be used for driving the first and the second carriers to move.

9. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 8, wherein the transmission apparatus is comprised of:

a driving motor, for power providing; and

a transmission part, connected to the driving motor, the first and the second carriers to be used for transmitting the power of the driving motor to the first and the second carrier for driving the two to move.

10. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 9, wherein the transmission part is a component selected from the group consisting of a screw rod, a guide rod, a gear rack, a belt, a toothed belt, a gear, a pulley and the likes as well as the assembly thereof.

11. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 9, wherein the driving motor is a device selected from the group consisting of a stepping motor, a direct current (DC) motor, a servo motor and the likes.

12. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 8, wherein the first carrier is able to move reciprocatively along a first path and the second carrier is able to move reciprocatively along a second path, whereas the first path is perpendicular to the second path.

13. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 8, wherein the first carrier can be moving non-synchronously with the movement of the second carrier.

14. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 8, wherein the second carrier is comprised of:

two longitudinal supporting racks, symmetrically arranged at two sides of the board frame while each extending along its corresponding side by a specific length; and

a transverse supporting rack, being disposed between the two longitudinal supporting racks while extending transversely by a specific length;

wherein, the control unit is able to direct the two longitudinal supporting racks to slide and move synchronously along the two sides of the board frame while bringing along the transverse supporting rack to move above the board frame

15. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 14, wherein a sliding mechanism is disposed between the first carrier and the transverse supporting rack of the second carrier for enabling the first carrier to move reciprocatively in a direction parallel to the extending length of the transverse supporting rack.

16. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 15, wherein the sliding mechanism is a device comprised of:

a slide groove, parallelly arranged along the extending length of the transverse supporting rack; and

a slide wheel, capable of sliding in the slide groove.

17. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 15, wherein the sliding mechanism is a device comprised of:

a guide rod, parallelly arranged along the extending length of the transverse supporting rack; and

a bearing, slidably mounted on the guide rod.

18. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 6, wherein a first magnetic part is fitted upon the grasping/releasing means while each of the plural chess pieces is fitted with a second magnetic part in a manner that the grasping/releasing means is capable of being activated to attract any of the plural chess pieces as the polarity of the first magnetic part is different from those of the second magnetic parts.

19. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 2, wherein a reed switch module is to be disposed between the plural chess pieces and the at least one chess board of the chessboard unit, the reed switch module comprising:

a plurality of magnets, respectively fitted upon the plural chess pieces;

a plurality of sensor, arranged at the at least one chess board, each capable of sensing the magnetism of any of the plural magnets and thus generating a sensing signal accordingly; and

a circuit device, electrically connecting the reed switch module to the control unit so as to transmitting the sensing signal and the control signal of the control unit.

20. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 1, wherein the control unit further comprises:

a signal processing unit, for evaluating and processing signals received thereby; and

a chess software unit, capable of controlling the operation of the portable robotic board game playing system for executing a chess playing program.

21. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 20, wherein the chess software unit further comprises a transmission interface, used for connecting to an external device.

22. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 21, wherein the connection between the transmission interface and the external device is enabled by a manner selected from the group consisting of a wireless manner and a wired manner.

23. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 21, wherein the transmission interface is a device selected from the group consisting of an universal serial bus (USB) interface, a serial bus, a parallel bus, and an IEEE 1394 bus and the likes.

24. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a wireless transmission unit, electrically connected to the control unit and capable of transmitting data to a remote end;

wherein the wireless transmission unit is a device adapted for a communication system selected from the group consisting of: the 3^rdgeneration communication system, the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) communication system, the Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) communication system, and the Ultra-WideBand (UWB) communication system.

25. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 24, wherein the wireless transmission unit further comprises: a web cam, used for capturing images.

26. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 1, further comprising:

an audio/video unit, electrically connected to the control unit and capable of receiving and displaying signals relating to the operating of the portable robotic board game playing system.

27. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 26, wherein the audio/video unit further comprises:

an inputting device, for inputting multimedia signals into the portable robotic board game playing system; and

an outputting device, for outputting the multimedia signals received by the portable robotic board game playing system.

28. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 27, wherein the inputting device is substantially a component selected from the group consisting of a keyboard, a touch panel, a microphone and the likes as well as the combination thereof.

29. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 27, wherein the outputting device is substantially a component selected from the group consisting of a display, a speaker and the likes as well as the combination thereof.

30. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a power unit, used as the power source of the portable robotic board game playing system.

31. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of security devices, each being electrically connected to the control unit for enabling the control unit to determine whether each and every one of the plural security devices is being triggered simultaneously.

32. The portable robotic board game playing system of claim 31, wherein the plural security devices are so-distributed that they can not be touched simultaneously by one single average adult-sized palm.