This 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.
The 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.
Lego 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
You 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
This 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.
The 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.
Lego 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
Why 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?
You 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