A teenage coding and robotics team created an incredible and one of its kind chess board for the blind as part of a competition. The kids were told to invent something that would make a difference and this couldn’t have been better.
The Good Things Guy publication reported that the chess board idea was inspired by one of the kid’s wishes to play chess with his blind mother. The team set out to design an accessible chess board, which also earned them the opportunity to compete internationally.
These young geniuses call themselves Team Checkmate. They are from Booster Kids, a school in Cape Town that offers mobile S.T.E.A.M (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) classes in woodwork, as well as robotics and coding. The school caters for children from the age of 4 to 15.
Dale February, husband to the blind mother explained to the publication that his wife lost her sight due to a medical condition. He further stated that, “In the last nearly 6 years she has had 47 operations and 9 cornea replacements but she is still unable to see.”
Jair February, one of the children whose mother is blind, wanted to be able to play chess with his mom, and because the team was given the task of identifying what they all enjoyed and making it more accessible, creating a chess board that is accessible to the blind became their assignment.
Team Checkmate is made up of Jair February (11), Ryan Fortuin (12), and Abigail Schubert (12). These three were chosen to represent South Africa in the 2024 Asia Pacific Open Championship First Lego League (FLL) in Australia in July. This was after they won first place for their innovation at Nationals in December of last year.
Their chess board has since won the admiration of the likes of Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, and it has the potential to win hearts all over the world if Team Checkmate can make it to Australia.
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