Lego’s Smart Brick Gives the Iconic Analog Toy a New Digital Brain

At CES in Las Vegas today, Lego has unveiled its caller Smart Play platform, aimed astatine taking its distinctly analog integrative blocks and figures into a caller satellite of tech-powered interactive play—but crucially 1 without immoderate reliance connected screens.

Smart Play revolves astir Lego's patented sensor- and tech-packed brick. It's the aforesaid size arsenic a modular 2x4 Lego brick, but it is susceptible of connecting to compatible Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags and interacting with past successful existent time. By pairing these components, kids large and tiny tin make context-appropriate sounds and airy effects arsenic they play with the Danish company's toys.

For example, launching connected March 1, the $100 Lego Star Wars Smart Play Luke’s Red Five X-Wing 584-piece gathering acceptable volition diagnostic 2 Smart Minifigs—Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia—plus 5 Smart Tags that volition connection up laser-shooting sounds, motor sounds, and airy effects, arsenic good arsenic refueling and repair sounds. All of the sounds are coordinated by the set's cardinal Smart Brick brain.

Two much Lego Star Wars Smart Play sets driblet connected the aforesaid day, but each 3 are disposable for preorder from January 9. One is simply a 473-piece Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter kit ($70) with ion motor dependable effects, but the prime of the 3 could good beryllium the $160, 962-piece Throne Room Duel acceptable with 3 Smart Minifigures of Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and Luke Skywalker. The operation of the ceramic encephalon positive connected figures volition seemingly fto players recreate (or so rewrite) the last lightsaber battle—complete with humming laser sword sounds—between Luke and Vader astatine the extremity of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. You tin adjacent perceive to “The Imperial March” arsenic Emperor Palpatine watches the combat from his throne.

Lego is claiming this Smart Play level developed successful location by the company’s Creative Play Lab squad successful collaboration with Capgemini's Cambridge Consultants “features much than 20 patented world-firsts wrong its technology.”

The bosom of the strategy is the Smart Brick's custom-made chip, measuring smaller than a modular Lego stud. Other elements crammed into the eight-stud ceramic are an LED airy array, accelerometers, airy sensors, and dependable sensor, and adjacent a miniature speaker.

The interior artillery volition supposedly enactment adjacent aft years of inactivity, and to debar immoderate request for cablegram entree to the Smart Brick erstwhile it's built into a beloved creation, Lego has besides added wireless charging. Indeed, Lego has made a charging pad that volition powerfulness up respective Smart Bricks simultaneously.