From the outside it is a 2×4 brick. It means he has 2 buttons on the short side And 4 buttons on the long side. Ok, technically the buttons are called stud. The important part of this brick is inside. Al CES Las Vegas Lego launched what it called its greatest innovation in the last 50 years: lo Smart Bricksa brick with a system of sensors, LEDs and speakers capable of adapting to buildings.
To be precise, the system of which Smart Brick is part is a little more complex: it’s called Smart Play System. The Smart Brick is universal. It doesn’t change depending on which set it’s in. To understand if it was placed on a car or on a helicopter there is Smart Tags. A small tile to place next to the Smart Brick. The Smart Tagsobviously, changes depending on the set we are assembling. A similar tag has also been inserted in the Smart Minifigurethe hook-handed men of the Lego world. The Smart Bricks it charges wirelessly on a base.
Let’s take an example. Lego has launched this new brick together with a series of sets linked to the franchise Star Wars. One of these sets contains theX Wingthe Resistance fighter led among many also by Luke Skywalker. Once Smart Brick has been applied to the X-Wing, not only will the fighter begin to produce lights but also to simulate the noise of turns and shots. Among the Smart Brick sensors there is also a accelerometer dedicated precisely to this.
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The relationship between Lego and the digital world
Now. This isn’t the first time Lego has tried to get closer to digital. In the 2019 had already launched the series Hidden Sidesets with which it was possible to interact with the smartphone to expand the terrain and game modes through the augmented reality. Those were the years in which there was a lot of talk about this type of technology, especially after in 2016 we spent a summer (more or less) looking for Pokémon in the park near our house.
Hidden Side it didn’t open a new era for Lego. Now Smart Brick seems to want to do it. The announcement, however, raised some doubts linked precisely to the role of Lego. Over the years we have heard it repeated like a mantra that Legos are an “intelligent toy”. They need attention to be built but above all imagination to play with them.
Fairplay’s opinion: “It erases one of Lego’s strong points”
Josh Golin is the executive director of Fair playan association that deals with the protection of minors. Specifically, Fairplay works to protect against commercial practices deemed harmful, both for those who work in marketing and for Big Tech. Golin in a statement released to the BBC criticized Lego’s choice to include it Smart Bricks in his sets:
“Everyone who has seen a child playing with Lego knows this. Their creations produce sounds thanks to the power of their imagination.”
An opinion similar to that of Andrew Manchesprofessor at the University of Edinburgh, expert in technology and childhood: “The beauty of Lego lies precisely in the freedom to create, recreate and adapt simple blocks into endless stories fueled by children’s imagination.”
