We could describe LEGO Smart Play and how it works but you can’t truly appreciate the genius of this new technology until you actually get your hands on it.
That’s exactly what Tech Guide did.
We looked at the new LEGO Smart Play platform at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas where we were shown the new tech and how it works.
And it all starts with the smart brick – this is a four by two LEGO brick which is packed with technology including an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, a speaker, Bluetooth, and a battery.
Think of the Lego smart brick as the content player and the additional components – the smart tile and smart mini figures – as the content that the smart brick can unleash.
The battery aboard the Lego Smart Brick, with intense play, can run for about 45 minutes.
And when it’s time to charge, users simply place it on the included wireless charger that comes with the set.
LEGO wisely chose three Star Wars sets as the first to be released to customers because they can really showcase all the new ways it can bring creations to life.
So the idea is for the smart brick to react to movement, colours and other smart bricks and create a whole new dimension of play.
In one of our demos, we saw various smart tiles for cars and helicopters and dinosaurs and, when placed into a build, it was able to react to movement, to light and proximity two other smart bricks.
We saw one example where a car tile was placed into a small car build and it created various sounds based on the speed it was moving.
If you moved the car faster you would hear a higher rev sound.
If you tilted the car on its side, you would hear screeching noises and if you tipped it over it would make a crashing sound.
And the same thing applies to the smart mini figures.
We saw one example where there was a policeman and a robber and their proximity created this whole new scenario.
With the new Star Wars Smart Play sets – there are three of them – Luke Skywalker’s Red Five X-Wing, Darth Vader’s Tie Fighter and the Throne Room Duel from Return of the Jedi – Lego has created some truly remarkable possibilities.
Once the smart brick is installed and the smart tile is attached it can react to smart mini figures and other smart bricks and smart tiles around it.
So when Luke Skywalker sits in the cockpit of his X-wing he makes a sound that is like speech but not actual words so it’s up to the child to use their imagination to fill in the gaps.
And naturally when R2D2 is inserted he makes him delightful chirps and sounds.
When you pick up the X-wing and move it around it makes flying sounds depending on how fast you move and the direction you take.
There’s a small button on the back that pushes the smart brick towards a red tile. When it does this this triggers the laser sound effects so you don’t have to make the sounds yourself.
Now this is all great if you’re on your own and playing with the set.
But what’s even better is that it can interact with other smart play sets for social play.
In this case, when you bring Darth Vader’s Tie Fighter into the picture, you’re able to do fight it out.
Each ship can fire on the other and can register when they’ve been hit to the point where the smart brick makes a sound and displays flashing lights to suggest that you’ve lost the battle.
And when you’re on the ground again you can enjoy the different sounds and interactions when you’re refuelling and placing other mini figures into the ship.
The possibilities are endless and it means there’s no limit to the imagination that goes into playtime.
Another excellent demonstration of the technology was the Throne Room duel between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
The set has small handles behind the figures so the characters can fight it out.
When the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader smart mini figures are placed in front of their smart brick you can hear their lightsabers ignite and hum.
But then when it’s time to fight as you’re moving the mini figures with the handle you can hear the hums of the lightsabers and the clashing sounds when they make contact.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Star Wars Smart Play sets will be launched in March but expect many other themed sets to follow including Formula One, Harry Potter and Marvel.
We think there’s going to be a long and bright future for LEGO Smart Play.
* Stephen Fenech travelled to Las Vegas for CES with support from Samsung, Hisense, LG, ASUS, Ecovacs, Roborock, Reolink and Lego.
