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A blind man made it possible for others with low vision to build Lego sets
- tantalor 7mo ago[flagged]
- guzfip 7mo agoI guess there’s still a few low hanging fruit out there.
- PowerElectronix 7mo agoIt takes someone to actually do the thing with the tools that already allow for it.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- john_strinlai 7mo agoit is a nice story focused on people doing good; not one focused on cutting-edge technology. not everything needs to be "ground breaking".
- nkrisc 7mo agoHow is that clickbait? The title appears to be completely supported by the content of the article.
- skyberrys 7mo agoThis is one of those who would have thought about it as a problem stories. It's great to read because it helps you think about the problems most of us already have solutions we take for granted. At the bottom it does have some AI sprinkles... Use an AI tool to figure out the colors of bricks to fill in the missing link.
- stefantalpalaru 7mo ago[dead]
- zhivota 7mo agoThe top comment on the article itself has a great idea to map colors to textures so the blind could identify the colors as well. With the rise of cheap knock offs of LEGO these days, I wonder if one of those could do that.
- voidUpdate 7mo agoLego bricks are injection moulded, so if you put a texture on the sides of the bricks, it will either be impossible to get them out of the moulds or you'd have to have a complex moving mould to release them, which would probably massively slow down production
- thechao 7mo agoWhy can't you vary the height of the posts on the top of the piece? Or, add some nubbins on the posts/surface: isn't that what braille is?
- voidUpdate 7mo agoYou could vary the heights, but it would have an effect on "clutch power" (how well the bricks stick together), and Lego is very big on making sure that's up to standard. Its often what separates Lego bricks from clones. Also you'd struggle to make a kind of braille pattern on some pieces, like 1x1 bricks. You could try to make the tops of the bumps textured, but that's where Lego puts their trademark, and I don't think they'd compromise on that, since its another protection against fake bricks that claim they're Lego but are worse. I also don't know how well you could feel textural differences in an area that small
- FarmerPotato 7mo agoInjection molding manuals long ago suggested putting some text like the trademark around the point the sprue enters. Camouflage. I had a little Aha moment when I read that and recalled noticing the dimple on old bricks. With some exceptions (80s plates with sprue on short end) I expect to find the sprue mark on a corner stud. Anyhow I'm imagining after-market ways to add texture.
- aaron695 7mo ago[dead]
- FarmerPotato 7mo agoQuestion: do the colors really matter? A 1970s ad from Lego played up how kids don't see a problem making their beautiful truck out of whatever pieces were available. I would have been a color snob, but all I had in 1979 were red bricks.