The new LEGO Smart Play platform, which has taken the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas by storm, was eight years in the making with the company making a deliberate move to not involve smartphones and apps in any way.
The new LEGO Smart Play platform is a standalone system that can bring builds to life and provide an all-new experience and new ways of exploration and storytelling.
LEGO Smart Play will include a smart brick which include sensors, accelerometers, light sensing and the sound sensor along with a mini speaker that’s powered by an onboard synthesiser.
The LEGO announcement comes at a time when kids are often spending too much time looking at a display and anyone under 16 in Australia is now banned from social media.
LEGO Smart Play still allows kids to enjoy the tech but there is no screen time involved.
In fact, the platform is designed to completely change game play and allow a child to really use their imagination.
It was a bold move to launch the new platform at the world’s biggest tech show – CES in Las Vegas alongside some of the biggest tech companies in the world.
This is Lego’s first appearance at CES.
“I think firstly we’re not just here to launch a product – we’re here to talk about a new innovative platform – the Lego Smart Play plaform,” Mike Ilacqua, Head of Product, LEGO Star Wars at the LEGO Group told Tech Guide.
“It’s a really exciting moment because we are introducing a new technology – a lot of world-first technologies but brought to life with what on the surface looks like a standard Lego two by four brick.
“This felt like a really good opportunity to introduce it to the world and of course be able to do so for the very first time with Lego Star Wars.”
Development of the LEGO Smart Play platform started around eight years ago but it was three years when they started developing how the technology could be used with some Lego Star Wars products.
But there also had one strict rule in place for LEGO Smart Play – there would be no smartphones or apps involved.
“That was very Intentional,” Ilacqua says.
“I think from the very beginning there was a slide somewhere that had a picture of a phone and a screen and it had a big X across it.
“From the very beginning we wanted this innovation to really look and feel very much like the Lego system in play.
“This is an evolution of it – it’s definitely innovative and it’s pushed us forward but it’s still grounded in physical play experiences and this new platform only enhances it.
“From the very beginning we wanted to be as frictionless as seamless and intuitive for kids as possible.
“It was really important that it really fit right into the Lego system in play so these bricks can be clicked with bricks that shipped many years ago.
“This is really part of our philosophy of having our Lego system in play.”
* Stephen Fenech travelled to Las Vegas for CES with support from Samsung, Hisense, LG, ASUS, Ecovacs, Roborock, Reolink and Lego.
