Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4. Torres y Quevedo's Chess endgame machine (from “Les Automates” by H.
Vigneron, La Natura 1914, page 57)
Torres' Chess machine was not intended to play a complete game of
Chess but to win the ending where one player (the machine, playing
white) has a king and a rook against the other player's lone king, as in
Figure 3.
Torres divided the chessboard into two zones, one consisting of the
a-, b- and c-files, and the other of the h-, g- and f-files. The machine
would decide on its move by choosing from one of six classifications,
depending upon the position of the black king.
Torres' Chess ending machine (see Figure 4 ) is still in good work-
ing order and can be seen in the museum at the Polytechnic University
in Madrid. Its design was remarkable for two reasons. It was the first
genuine machine ever to play even part of a game of Chess or any other
thinking game. And it was the first machine to operate as a rule-based
expert system , 11 making its decisions entirely on the basis of a set of rules
that incorporate human expertise, the rules given in Figure 5.
11 See the section “Expert Systems” in Chapter 7.
 
 
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