Having an XY mechanism like SO, solved in a practical and fast way the movement of the pieces around the board. The problem is that you need to add space around the playable surface for the motors. I want a mechanism with no extra frame, but just enough for the captured pieces.

I worked on a project before that used a SCARA mechanism. Based on this I designed a mechanism that allows the electromagnet to reach all zones of the board no matter its size and shape. This helped me reduce the size of the frame, the bad news, my board is too high!

While looking for ways of reducing board height, I came across a project called ZarPlotter. It works by using CDPR, a cable-driven mechanism that moves the end effector (in our case an electromagnet) by pulling cables from the 4 corners of the frame with stepper motors. 

In terms of space, it seems like a good way to explore! I’ll work on a new prototype with this mechanism and let you know the results.

Any suggestions on other mechanisms to explore are more than welcome, you guys have been very supportive!

Remember that we can chat on my discord server about chess, mechanism or any topic related to this project: https://discord.gg/5Am7CDzwUf