Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1914-07-28
MACHINE BESTS
men AT CHESS
Device That Protests When
Human Opponent Cheats.
IT HAS SENSITIVE ORGANS.
Automatic Apparatus Constructed So
That Competitor Is Obliged to Play
Strictly According to Rules of the
Game-When These Are Violated
Lighted Lamp Gives Warning.

Is the day near at hand when science
will be able to create a human being?
This question may well be asked when
one considers the latest invention of
that king of autOmat inventors Senor
Torres Quevedo, member of the
Spanish Academy of Sciences. Senor
Torres caused a sensation some thirty
years ago by inventing machine
which would solve algebraic equations.
Then he invented balloon which
would direct itself and could attain
speed as great as the fastest Zeppelins.
The latest product of this wonderful
laboratory. says Paris dispatch to the
New York Sun, is a machine which
plays chess and which seems actually
to accomplish the work of human
brain. Senior Torres thus describes his
own invention:
at is true that the game which the
automat plays is not very complicated.
but, nevertheless, for its opponent to
win he must know how to play. The
automat uses the white king against
the castle and the black king. Its
game is won in advance, but 1t must
follow certain course which leads 1t
up to the finish.
On the Watch For Fraud.
"When the automat's opponent moves
the black king the automat begins
by seeing If the movement conforms
with the rules of the game. If not it |
protests by Lighting a lamp. If the
move is according to the rules the au-
tomat, taking into account the position
of the three pieces, decides what Is the
best move and then makes it. Thus
the game continues until the automat
has checkmated the black king.
"If the automats opponent should
make Il mistake. as | said before, the
automat protests by lighting a lamp.
But it will tolerate only three mis-
takes. Then all its lights go out, and
you may move your pieces as much as
you want-the automat has finished
If you wish to begin new game you
invite the automat by special move
ment to play another game. II 1t ac-
cepts it will turn out all its lights,
place its pieces on the board in their
original positions. then wait for you
to make the first move.
"The old autOmats. the most cele-
brated of which were those of Vau-
canson, initiated the appearance and
the movements of man. Today this
idea has been abandoned. and intricate
which look like nothing but
machines. have taken their places. The ,
self directing torpedo is good exam ,
pie of an autOmat. The difficulty does
not lie in the work Of its helmsman. I
but in the determination of the move
ment to be executed. The machine de- r
duces this movement from indicators :
by purely mechanical means. This, +
as in the calculating machines. is the ,
brainwork Of the man that the ma Y
chine accompishes /
Sensitive Mechanism. S
ut is not to be denied that autOmats
,an have sensitive organs Imonometers. a
thermometers cOmpasseS, etC.,l permit t
ing them to recognize the circum-
stances which determine their move
nents, but science refuses to admit
hat they can possess the analogue of Il "
Drain. But | believe | have shown b
hat this possibility theoretically does h
rot offer the least doubt. Automats f,
an be made us complicated as one may
wish.
II believe that there is no limit in this
lomain and that theoretically at least
he time will come when all factory
operations. even those which demand =
he intervention of engineers. can be
Executed automatically" :