4 ms·

I was a little disappointed when I clicked, too. I can't think of a way you could make physical dice like that, unless maybe the faces were LEDs? That might b

I was a little disappointed when I clicked, too. I can't think of a way you could make physical dice like that, unless maybe the faces were LEDs? That might be too fragile.

Mister_Snuggles 9y ago
Apple has a patent[0] for a fall-protection system that will rotate the phone while it's in the air. If something like that could be made small enough to fit into a die, that would work. The biggest challenge will probably be the power supply. I'm sure that a processor, accelerometer, and the Taptic Engine (the thing that provides vibration and haptic feedback in Apple devices) are all small enough to fit in a typical die. Of course, something like this could easily be built into a larger novelty die. Bonus points should be awarded if the die is perfectly balanced when it's not actively adjusting itself in mid-air. [0] http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/12/02/apple-patents-active-fall-protection-system-that-shifts-iphones-in-midair http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/12/02/apple-patents-acti...
- xori 9y ago
  Oh my god, you totally could use reaction wheels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_6p-1J551Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_6p-1J551Y
  - Mister_Snuggles 9y ago
    Wow - that is cool!
  - michaelbuckbee 9y ago
    That's really clever - I've been wondering how small and quiet you could make such a device. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have one of those attached to a VR controller? You'd be able to get real (albeit slight) resistance when you interacted with things.
default-kramer 9y ago
Put 6 weights in the die, one per face. A mechanism controls each weight individually, moving it from near the face (likely to land down) to near the center (likely to land up). Combine it with something that can detect roll outcomes. This would probably cost a lot of money to fit in a normal sized die.
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago
  Why not have an electromagnet at each face and ball-bearing in a 3 way race. You weight the device by turning on the opposite number's coil. You don't guarantee a particular roll but the statistical weighting should be pretty strong. I wonder if you tuned the e-m coil for a particular frequency if you could make the device passive and weight it using an external frequency change? Or use computer vision, a passive dice with a metal insert and a magnetic table; switch on the magnet when the dice hits the table right (this version would be highly obvious but perhaps could be made less so).

I was a little disappointed when I clicked, too. I can't think of a way you could make physical dice like that, unless maybe the faces were LEDs? That might be too fragile.

Mister_Snuggles 9y ago

Apple has a patent[0] for a fall-protection system that will rotate the phone while it's in the air. If something like that could be made small enough to fit into a die, that would work. The biggest challenge will probably be the power supply. I'm sure that a processor, accelerometer, and the Taptic Engine (the thing that provides vibration and haptic feedback in Apple devices) are all small enough to fit in a typical die. Of course, something like this could easily be built into a larger novelty die. Bonus points should be awarded if the die is perfectly balanced when it's not actively adjusting itself in mid-air. [0] http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/12/02/apple-patents-active-fall-protection-system-that-shifts-iphones-in-midair http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/12/02/apple-patents-acti...

xori 9y ago
Oh my god, you totally could use reaction wheels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_6p-1J551Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_6p-1J551Y
- Mister_Snuggles 9y ago
  Wow - that is cool!
- michaelbuckbee 9y ago
  That's really clever - I've been wondering how small and quiet you could make such a device. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have one of those attached to a VR controller? You'd be able to get real (albeit slight) resistance when you interacted with things.

default-kramer 9y ago

Put 6 weights in the die, one per face. A mechanism controls each weight individually, moving it from near the face (likely to land down) to near the center (likely to land up). Combine it with something that can detect roll outcomes. This would probably cost a lot of money to fit in a normal sized die.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago
Why not have an electromagnet at each face and ball-bearing in a 3 way race. You weight the device by turning on the opposite number's coil. You don't guarantee a particular roll but the statistical weighting should be pretty strong. I wonder if you tuned the e-m coil for a particular frequency if you could make the device passive and weight it using an external frequency change? Or use computer vision, a passive dice with a metal insert and a magnetic table; switch on the magnet when the dice hits the table right (this version would be highly obvious but perhaps could be made less so).