--- title: Robot Picks Up Othello | daily.dev description: A builder made a robot that physically plays Othello using an XYZ motion system similar to a 3D printer. A vacuum head on the Z-axis picks up and places clear... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/robot-picks-up-othello-susglhkra twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Robot Picks Up Othello | daily.dev og:description: A builder made a robot that physically plays Othello using an XYZ motion system similar to a 3D printer. A vacuum head on the Z-axis picks up and places clear... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/robot-picks-up-othello-susglhkra og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/SusgLHkRA.png og:image:alt: Robot Picks Up Othello og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Robot Picks Up Othello **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A builder made a robot that physically plays Othello using an XYZ motion system similar to a 3D printer. A vacuum head on the Z-axis picks up and places clear tokens on the board. Instead of mechanically flipping captured pieces, the tokens light up in one of two colors, so capturing a piece is just an LED color change. The same LEDs flash a different color to show legal moves. A camera lets a Raspberry Pi see the board, and the build uses laser-cut parts plus 3D printed PLA and TPU components. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does a robot flip Othello pieces without a mechanical flipping mechanism? The robot uses clear tokens lit from within by LEDs set to one of two colors, so capturing a piece is simply a color change rather than a physical flip. The same LED system also flashes a different color to indicate legal moves, removing the need for any flipping hardware. _Builders tackling unusual mechanical problems can find project breakdowns like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Building A Self-Playing Chess Board Robot](https://daily.dev/posts/building-a-self-playing-chess-board-robot-jbiomg4qr) · Hackaday · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [A Raspberry Pi 5 powers this physical chessboard that plays itself](https://daily.dev/posts/a-raspberry-pi-5-powers-this-physical-chessboard-that-plays-itself-hwmydhsp1) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [This unbeatable 3D-printed Tic-Tac-Toe computer uses zero electronics to ensure you never win](https://daily.dev/posts/this-unbeatable-3d-printed-tic-tac-toe-computer-uses-zero-electronics-to-ensure-you-never-win-mb6ga4ioe) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [LEGO Machine Plays Tic-Tac-Toe Without Electronics](https://daily.dev/posts/lego-machine-plays-tic-tac-toe-without-electronics-lj3tdymbk) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#robotics](https://daily.dev/tags/robotics), [#computer-vision](https://daily.dev/tags/computer-vision), [#raspberry-pi](https://daily.dev/tags/raspberry-pi) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/robot-picks-up-othello-susglhkra) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Robot Picks Up Othello","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/robot-picks-up-othello-susglhkra","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/robot-picks-up-othello-susglhkra"},"datePublished":"2026-10-29T15:49:42.892Z","dateModified":"2026-10-29T15:50:53.469Z","description":"A builder made a robot that physically plays Othello using an XYZ motion system similar to a 3D printer. 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