In 2016, the man-machine battle between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol detonated people’s attention to AI. Countless chess lovers, after witnessing AlphaGo’s victory over Li Sedol, all want to play against him and experience the mysterious power of artificial intelligence.
But in fact, as early as 1997, there was a man-machine game that attracted the attention of the world. The then chess king Kasparov played against the robot “Deep Blue” developed by IBM. “Beat the Humans 3.5:2.5.
At that time, Deep Blue was a giant “monster”: its overall weight was 1270kg, and it had 32 powerful CPUs that could support its 11.38 billion floating-point operations per second. This allowed Deep Blue to see the next 12 moves during the game, while the chess king at the time could only estimate 10 moves, and defeat was inevitable.
Nineteen years later, the victory of AlphaGo is not only due to the computing power tens of thousands of times stronger than that of Deep Blue, but more importantly, the academic development represented by deep learning has brought an important innovation to artificial intelligence, making it capable of Stronger “human-like” capabilities and commercialization.
These two man-machine battles, which were enough to go down in history, at that time, for most people, they could only “watch from a distance and not play close”, and the dream of playing games with machines seemed out of reach.
However, with the vigorous rise of artificial intelligence in China, many AI companies have launched various chess-playing robots. The “privilege” that only the chess king could play against the machine has gradually “flyed into the homes of ordinary people”.
Take Shang Tang’s “Yuanrui Sense Robot” AI chess-playing robot as an example. The size of the entire robot is close to that of a laptop. It is not only equipped with the chess power of a human chess master, but also has the ability of human-computer interaction; of course, in terms of price , the price is close to 2,000, which is not expensive among similar products, and ordinary families can afford it and use it.
In addition to some of the above-mentioned features, Yuanrui Robot has many intelligent details.
The technical principle of the chess robot
Before learning more about Yuan radish, we must first understand how Yuan radish works.
A complete Yuan radish is mainly composed of five parts: chessboard (including chess pieces), mechanical arm, interactive screen, antenna and main body.
Players need to select the difficulty and the game mode (such as endgame) according to their own abilities. After setting, they can start the game.
During the battle, a camera is deployed on the antenna of the robot’s head, which can accurately identify the situation and changes of the chessboard moves, and calculate the moves based on the player’s moves based on the built-in chess algorithm.
After the calculation is completed, the “central system” issues an instruction, and the robotic arm completes the grasping action.
The whole process looks simple, but in fact there are many difficulties. For example, how to accurately capture real-time dynamics of the camera requires a special AI vision algorithm; and how to accurately grasp the chess pieces, grasp and place them stably, and use them. The relevant control algorithm is used for control.
There are two details here:
First, based on “hand-eye coordination”, Yuanrui can not only play chess automatically, but also support man and machine to play chess together without confusion. When the player violates the rules of the game, the robot will automatically remind; On the basis of the AI algorithm, a touch sensing system is installed. When it encounters an obstacle (such as a human hand), the robotic arm will automatically stop and give a voice reminder without confronting the human.
Behind the simple details, there are serious humanistic concepts and complex algorithm design.
Taking safety as an example, a recent incident of a robot breaking a player’s finger in a foreign country has caused people to worry about the safety of the robot.
For this reason, when designing chess-playing robots, SenseTime regards “doing no harm to humans” as one of its basic principles, and relevant concepts are implemented in the entire product design and manufacturing process.
For example, the mechanical arm and the chess piece are grasped by magnetic attraction, instead of “taking” like a human hand. The force generated by the mechanical arm is very small. When encountering an obstacle, it will actively stop and avoid potential potential from the product level. security risks.
Shen Hui, dean of Shangtang Science and Technology Innovation Engineering Institute, told AI Nuggets that for safety issues, in addition to product design, Shangtang also conducted collision, pressure and other tests on the Yuanluo robotic arm to ensure that there would be no physical damage to users.
Entertainment, puzzles, grade exams… Chess robots unlock new ways to play
As an entertainment method with a long history, the fun of chess lies in the use of chess pieces to restrain the enemy and use various means of attack to achieve the goal of checkmate. one.
Yuanrui chess-playing robot has 26 levels of different chess power levels in total in the chess-playing mode. From novice to master, everyone can enjoy the fun of playing against opponents. In addition, Yuanrui provides hundreds of classic endgames, satisfying the preferences of some users who like to study endgames.
Moreover, chess is by no means a single form of entertainment. More importantly, it trains people’s logical thinking, and even hides many life inspirations.
For example, playing chess pays attention to the overall situation, and cannot care about the gains and losses of a pawn and a piece. This requires a trade-off according to the actual situation. Partial gains and losses often serve the final victory.
In the course of the game, various strategies in “Sun Tzu’s Art of War” are also interspersed between the chessboards: encircling Wei and saving Zhao, repairing the plank road in the Ming Dynasty, crossing Chencang secretly, and retreating to advance, etc. Every step is closely linked, and the difference of one piece often determines the victory or defeat, which requires the players to think carefully before they can make a move.
Playing chess is like doing a math problem, which requires careful thinking and argumentation. Whether children or adults, they can cultivate and deepen their thinking logic in the process of playing chess.
Research from Peking University’s Psychology Laboratory shows that playing chess can effectively improve children’s thinking logic and competitiveness, and improve their concentration.
It is worth mentioning that in the first batch of pilot exams in my country, besides listening and vision, the only test question was chess. To this day, the tradition of playing chess is still preserved, and many excellent pilots have achieved good achievements in chess.
Of course, after more than 2,000 years of development, chess is not only an art, but also a competitive sport. There is also a set of perfect judging standards and grading system for the players’ chess level.
It is understood that Yuanluo has been certified and authorized by the Chinese Chess Association, and can provide learners with a Chinese chess level 16-13 level assessment. A grade certificate issued by the Chess Association.
In addition to the grading test, Yuanluo provides various modes of gameplay such as endgame challenge, chess breakthrough, peak challenge, etc., which can satisfy players of different ages and hobbies.
AI + chess, an innovation to traditional culture
As an excellent traditional culture in my country, chess has always been liked by many people, but with the rapid development of science and technology, the promotion and inheritance of chess also faces some difficulties.
With the improvement of people’s living standards, entertainment methods are becoming more diversified, and sports items are becoming more and more abundant. Electronic games are sought after by young people. The chess game is objectively facing the loss of users.
Starting from the needs of customers themselves, cultivating children’s hobby of chess often requires enrolling in interest classes, which are relatively expensive; and if relying on elders for guidance, it is difficult to ensure the teaching level, and it is laborious.
Many companies choose to move the chessboard to the Internet. Users can compete on the platform through computer software, mobile APPs, etc., which does not require physical space, and can match in real time, which has achieved good results.
But this approach also has drawbacks: insufficient user experience.
Playing chess is not only a competition of personal strength, but also a psychological game. Both sides of the game need to think, figure out each other’s intentions, weigh their own strategies, and take ten steps to take a step. However, online chess software is only a mechanical move, and it is difficult to simulate a real person’s game. status and atmosphere.
At the same time, few chess software will introduce the history and rules of chess, and there is no perfect and standardized curriculum and evaluation system. In addition, general chess software usually requires the use of mobile phones, tablet computers and other devices as carriers. Many people (especially children) are easily attracted by the various information on the device, and it is difficult to maintain focus in chess.
Yuan radish makes up for the shortcomings of online chess software:
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Support learning from scratch, built-in 48 professional courses, covering the history of chess, game skills, etc., from easy to difficult, distributed in a step-like manner;
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Voice explanation + practical training to realize intelligent human-computer interaction;
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Physical game, reduce dependence on mobile phones and computers;
Comparing the two, if playing chess software is to move the chessboard to the Internet, Yuanluo invites the teacher to the home for systematic teaching and practice.
Therefore, Yuanrui is not just a chess-playing robot, but also a representative of AI empowering traditional culture. When the inheritance of traditional culture encounters resistance, the value of artificial intelligence is highlighted. By combining AI algorithms with chess, chess culture can be better spread and developed.
Summarize
Yuanrui chess robot is the first time that SenseTime has applied a robot equipped with a robotic arm to the home scene, and it is also a new change in SenseTime’s smart life.
While spreading the chess culture, Yuan Rui can not only “educate and solve puzzles” for children, but also act as a link between family members. The family can gather the wisdom of all people to fight against AI in man-machine battle, enhance the overall synergy ability, and the family’s centripetal force.
However, its value is not limited to this. From the perspective of technological development, from Deep Blue to AlphaGo to Yuanrui, it is actually a microcosm of the implementation of artificial intelligence technology, reflecting the profound changes of AI from the niche to the public:
AI is entering people’s lives in a new way. Leifeng Network Leifeng Network
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