FIve years ago, our company started to regularly sponsor local student=20
teams. This semester, we sponsored two teams, and met an exceptionally=20
determined and gifted student who designed and built an electronic chess=20
board. I thought you guys might like to see the pictures (it's a FaceBook=20
album):

http://tinyurl.com/64r6ln7

The goal of the project was to build a "smart" chess board. There are=20
sixteen modules, each with a PIC24H controlling four squares. Each square=20
has a hall effect sensor, and an RGB LED to light up the piece from below.=
=20
The hall effect sensor is used to determine whether the square is empty, or=
=20
has a "black" or "white" piece. Each of the pieces has a small circular=20
magnet that fits over the square's LED to align the magnet over the sensor.

Brian spent at least 80 hours working on our premises (plus untold hours=20
working on the project at home). In one month, he:

- Mastered EAGLE, which he used to create parts, capture the schematic, and=
=20
lay out the PCB
- Learned how to make (etch) rapid prototypes using presensitized PCBs
- Learned MPLAB/C30 and used it to generate test and production code
- Reflowed/soldered, what amounts to a small production run (16) of hybrid=
=20
(SMT/PTH) boards

If you know any professors or students in North Phoenix, you can tell them=
=20
about the sponsorship. We match student spending dollar for dollar, up to=20
$1000. More importantly, we are happy to donate our time to advise, teach,=
=20
provide feedback, review schematics, and let the students use our tools and=
=20
equipment. The requirements are very lax: it just has to be a reasonably=20
complicated electronic project.

I'll post the pictures of the Solar Tracker project, by Friday.

Best regards,

Vitaliy Maksimov
Co-Founder, General Manager
ScanTool.net, LLC
+1 623 582-2366
http://www.scantool.net

P.S. Each photo has a "Download" link which lets you see the hi-res version=
=20
of the image.=20

--=20
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
.