Connect Four Robot : Implementation of AI-strategies in a Connect Four robot

Sammanfattning: Connect four is a two player game in which the players take turns placing discs in i a 6x7 grid. Each player has discs in their own specific color. Their aim is to get four of their own discs in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal alignment. While doing so they have to prevent their opponent from getting four of their discs in a row. In this project, the purpose is to design and build a connect four playing robot, that can play connect four opposite a human. To do so, the robot has to be able to physically move and drop discs in the grid of the game, it also has to be able to figure out in which column to drop the discs, and detect where the player puts their discs. To achieve this, a demonstrator was built. It consists of a frame around the game, onto which motors are placed to move and drop discs into the game. Photoreflectors are placed above each column to detect the player’s discs. The motors and sensor are controlled by an Arduino, and a Raspberry Pi is tasked to run the AI algorithm to calculate the next moves for the robot. This was done with a satisfying result and at the end of the project the demonstrator could play connect four against a human opponent and almost always win.