Lego Smart Bricks introduce a new way to build — and they don't require screens | TechCrunch

Lego announced its new Smart Play system at CES on Monday, adding interactive, responsive Legos to the famously analog franchise.

The Smart Play system includes a 2×4 brick, Smart Tag tiles, and Smart Minifigures. The Smart Bricks and Minifigures can sense nearby Smart Tags, which are 2×2 studless tiles with unique digital IDs that tell the Bricks and Minifigures how to act.

If the Smart Tag comes in a set for building a helicopter, for example, then the Smart Brick will light up and make propeller sounds that would help bring a helicopter to life. Its built-in accelerometer would make these lights and sounds more consistent with how you’re actually playing with the helicopter, since the Brick will be able to sense when the helicopter is zooming through the sky or turned upside down.

The Smart Bricks are powered by a patented ASIC chip, which is smaller than the size of a single Lego stud. The chip uses near-field magnetic positioning to recognize the Tags around it, as well as a miniature speaker, accelerometer, and LED array. Lego also developed a Bluetooth-based protocol called BrickNet, which allows multiple Smart Bricks to recognize each other and operate in tandem. The company claims that BrickNet is protected by enhanced encryption and privacy controls (all of which is necessary, but imagine a world where hacking into toys wasn’t a concern!).

There’s no setup required to pair the elements of the Smart Play system, making it easy for kids to get started — and parents will be pleased to note that there are no screens involved in the Smart system at all. However, Lego’s website says that there will be a Smart Tag for animating Lego toilets, so… there’s that.

Lego’s first two Smart Play sets — which are both Star Wars-themed — will launch on March 1, though preorders open on Friday. The “Luke’s Red Five X-wing” building set will retail for $69.99, while the larger “Throne Room Duel and A-wing” set will cost $159.99. These sets use the Smart Play system to animate characters like Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, allowing them to interact with Smart Tags, which enable Lightsaber duels among other Star Wars-related capabilities.