LEGO SMART Bricks introduce a new way to build — and they don’t require screens

LEGO announced its caller SMART Play system astatine CES connected Monday, adding interactive, responsive LEGOs to the famously analog franchise.

The SMART Play strategy includes a 2×4 brick, SMART Tag tiles, and SMART Minifigures. The SMART Bricks and Minifigures tin consciousness adjacent SMART Tags, which are 2×2 studless tiles with unsocial integer IDs that archer the Bricks and Minifigures however to act.

If the SMART Tag comes successful a acceptable for gathering a helicopter, for example, past the Smart Brick volition airy up and marque propeller sounds that would assistance bring a chopper to life. Its built-in accelerometer would marque these lights and sounds much accordant with however you’re really playing with the helicopter, since the Brick volition beryllium capable to consciousness erstwhile the chopper is zooming done the entity oregon turned upside down.

Image Credits:LEGO

The SMART Bricks are powered by a patented ASIC chip, which is smaller than the size of a azygous LEGO stud. The spot uses near-field magnetic positioning to admit the Tags astir it, arsenic good arsenic a miniature speaker, accelerometer, and LED array. LEGO besides developed a Bluetooth-based protocol called BrickNet, which allows aggregate SMART Bricks to admit each different and run successful tandem. The institution claims that BrickNet is protected by enhanced encryption and privateness controls (all of which is necessary, but ideate a satellite wherever hacking into toys wasn’t a concern!).

There’s nary setup required to brace the elements of the SMART Play system, making it casual for kids to get started — and parents volition beryllium pleased to enactment that determination are nary screens progressive successful the SMART strategy astatine all. However, LEGO’s website says that determination volition beryllium a SMART Tag for animating LEGO toilets, so… there’s that.

LEGO’s archetypal 2 SMART Play sets — which are some Star Wars-themed — volition motorboat connected March 1, though preorders unfastened connected Friday. The “Luke’s Red Five X-wing” gathering acceptable volition retail for $69.99, portion the larger “Throne Room Duel and A-wing” acceptable volition outgo $159.99. These sets usage the SMART Play strategy to animate characters similar Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, allowing them to interact with SMART Tags, which alteration Lightsaber duels among different Star Wars-related capabilities.