Comments on: Rubik's Cube for the blind

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Great idea, lousy execution. How about six different textures, rather than having to read each panel?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

No problem using it if you are sighted – just match up the bump patterns

By: heydemann3

heydemann3 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve long thought that a tactile rubick’s cube would make a great toy for octopuses. I’ve never managed to solve one myself, but if a braille user can do it, more power to them!
Sighted people can easily use the braille cube-they just have to look at the dots. If that takes a bit longer to process the first few times, they’ll figure it out fast enough.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

They should have kept the colors. That way it could be used whether you’re blind or sighted.

What’s stopping you from learning Braille?

By: INTHETDOT

INTHETDOT — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Actually the centre squares NEVER move, they determine what color each side should be.

By: INTHETDOT

INTHETDOT — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The centre squares NEVER move, they determine what color each side is.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Actually, the center squares of a Rubik’s cube don’t move or rotate at all, and the orientation of the other squares is fixed as well (not necessarily at any one time, but when any one square is in its correct place it can only have one orientation). This cube is no different to solve than a normally colored cube.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Only the centers can be disturbed by orientation.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The orientation lines make no difference. If you were to mark a standard Rubik’s Cube with the same lines, you’d find that when it is solved, they’re always oriented the same way. There’s only one solution to the cube, as the six ‘center’ squares of each color do not change position (relative to each other).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think its brilliant.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

No, as each squares position is determined by the adjoining edge pieces. So, even on a normal coloured cube, even though a square may appear to have no orientation, it actually does based on the adjoining colour.

Although, this is only true for the 3×3.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

And despite the literal (I assume) interpretations of the color names in braille, one dot on one side, two dots on the next, etc. would probably be easier to navigate/differentiate, and would also make more sense for non-English-speakers, or those who don’t know braille… and why “pink” instead of orange?

By: INTHETDOT

INTHETDOT — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It is NO different to solve in terms of the mechanism inside the cube. The centre squares NEVER move only the edge squares move. The only difference here is the markings (braille) on the squares. You could mark it up with dots or anything as long as each side has a distinct marking. Keep on cubing!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nice render and interesting concept. What program(s) did you use?

By: MelSkunk

MelSkunk — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Does anyone read braille? Because the side facing me isn’t the name of any colour that I can tell…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Solving the cube regularly will correctly orient all the pieces except the six middle faces; it is possible to orient them correctly if I remember correctly.

By: jes5199

jes5199 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I was going to complain that the Braille wasn’t spelling anything sensible:
weithe
gevb
rot

but now I see that the artist speaks German.
it’s hard to tell what character set Braille is in (it’s more like ASCII than like Unicode)

By: jimkirk

jimkirk — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

When Rubik’s Cubes first came out my sister modified one for a blind friend. Like Anon @3 and SimonBarSinister suggest, she used patches of sandpaper, felt, smooth plastic, etc.

By: ian71

ian71 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Six different textures -could- wear out over time. Proper braille would most likely be far more durable.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

No difference for edges and corners. However the centers can be rotated in any fashion (but in pairs I think). So yes, if you count the orientation of the centers, it is harder. However there are of course algorithms somewhere to rotate centers.

By: simonbarsinister

simonbarsinister — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

A Rubik’s cube really made for the blind, instead of as a gimmick, should have six different textures that are easily distinguished at a moments touch. (eg: smooth, sandpaper, ridged, sticky, dimpled, squishy/soft)

The regular Rubik’s cube doesn’t have words or letters on it, it has colors that are easily distinguished at a moments glance.

By: simonbarsinister

simonbarsinister — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oh… here it is: http://www.yankodesign.com/2006/02/17/rubik-cube-for-blind-by-zhiliang-chen/

By: pentomino

pentomino — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There’s also 1-color cubes where the sides are distinguished by depth from the center, rather than color or texture. I don’t know how practical they are for the blind, but they’re good for the colorblind, and for cubing in low-lighting situations. It makes it more apparent that you’re actually solving the cube by layers rather than by matching colored sides, though someone who’s used to colors will need a while to get used to a new way of recognizing pieces.

I’ve bought two such cubes from DealExtreme. Strangely, the $5 gold cube handles better than the $30 silver cube I’d originally bought, as the mechanism seems more elastic, so that’s the one I’m linking. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25028~r.12013003

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

… brailliant …
FTFY

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@jes5199: Which doesn't justify the spelling errors. The V instead of the L (it should have said Gelb) is undoubtedly caused by the fact that the Braille sign for the V has an L-shape: http://libbraille.org/german_alphabet.php.

By: WalterBillington

WalterBillington — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oh come on. It has the instructions printed on it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If you want all the braille on each face to line up in the same orientation, it is harder to solve.
But you could solve it without care to orientation of the lettering, and it would be the same difficulty as a normal 3×3 cube

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Any chance you could modify the alt text for the image to something a little more descriptive?

By: Boondocker

Boondocker — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Visually-impaired or sighted, I’d get irritated with the damned thing just as fast.

By: JackieRack

JackieRack — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I totally agree with simonbarsinister. This is practically saying, “ooo! Braille is crazy and weird!” It isn’t. If the Rubiks cube for sighted people was all white and you had to read the colors constantly on each side, would you play with it?

I’m no stick in the mud, but I don’t like things that take stabs (no matter how innocent) at a population that is getting less than a 10% education learning to read in American schools. Braille is easy to use and we should be teaching it to everyone who needs or wants to learn it. It isn’t Braille’s fault it happens to look so bitchin’.