LEGO SMART Bricks introduce a new way to build – and they don’t require displays

LEGO announced its new SMART Play system at CES on Monday, adding interactive and responsive LEGO toys to the popular analog franchise.

The SMART Play System includes a 2×4 template, SMART marker squares, and SMART Minifigures. Smart bricks and minifigures can sense nearby smart tags, which are unmarked 2×2 square pieces with unique digital IDs that tell the bricks and minifigures how to behave.

If a SMART Brick comes in a helicopter building kit, for example, the Smart Brick will light up and make propeller sounds that will help bring the helicopter to life. A built-in accelerometer would make these lights and sounds more consistent with how you actually play with the helicopter, since the bricks would be able to sense when the helicopter takes to the sky or turns upside down.

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 landmarks around it, as well as a miniature speaker, accelerometer and LED array. LEGO has also developed a Bluetooth-based protocol called BrickNet, which allows multiple smart bricks to recognize each other and work side by side. The company claims that BrickNet is protected by enhanced encryption and privacy controls (all necessary, but imagine a world where game hacking isn’t a concern!).

There’s no setup required to pair SMART Play elements, making it easy for kids to get started – and parents will be happy to note that there are no screens involved in the SMART system at all. However, the LEGO website says there will be a smart sign to animate the LEGO toilets, so… there it is.

LEGO’s first two SMART Play sets – both Star Wars-themed – will launch on March 1, though pre-orders open on Friday. The “Luke’s Red Five X-wing” building set will retail for $69.99 USD, while the larger “Throne Room Duel and A-wing” set will cost $159.99 USD. 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 abilities.