4 ms·

New Lego smart-play system

73 points by acoye 9mo ago

kasane_teto 9mo ago
Watch this be like, $40 for a single brick thing.
Larrikin 9mo ago
All of their replacements for Mindstorms just come across as pieces that should have been added to the line. It's really disappointing that the discontinued it with no real replacement.
- bombcar 9mo ago
  It's disappointing that the company famous for making toys today that work with 50 year old bricks couldn't have kept things in the Mindstorms "ecosystem" even if replacing/new - so that those in the know could keep building on it.
- philips 9mo ago
  Its not mindstorms but Edison is LEGO compatible and is a nice platform. https://meetedison.com/ https://meetedison.com/
afavour 9mo ago
This reads like an unbranded version of Lego Mario. Which is absolutely fine by me.
- jmarcher 9mo ago
  Yes, I thought the same thing. My son loves Lego Mario and the app. He'll even go through the building instructions of kits he doesn't have just to see how they are built. The instructions in the app are super clear, animated, and the model can be rotated at any step to check whether the real-life model is correctly built. Going back to paper instructions after using the app is a pain.
A_Duck 9mo ago
Programmable logic toys like this formed the way I see the world — a system of states, conditional flow between states and the chance to design, understand and debug the system. I had Lego Mindstorms and Gen X had Logo/Turtle. With AI perhaps programmable logic will go the way of toy steam engines and crystal radios, and with it the worldview of those who grew up seeing the world as logic flows
- pphysch 9mo ago
  To be clear, the SMART brick is not much of a "programmable logic toy", topping out at "if near X, play U sound". Your last paragraph is spot on though.
gherkinnn 9mo ago
I like this and can't wait to see what loopy things people will come up with. Of all the ways "smart" could have been injected in to Lego these days, this is as robust as it gets.
mg 9mo ago
I don't have kids, but if I did, I would probably not go for Lego but for 3D-Printing. It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together. In all kinds of colors and all kinds of forms. I imagine the adventure of printing new pieces would be a fun thing for the kids and the parents. And when the kids are old enough, they can print pieces on their own. And a bit later design pieces on their own. Would there be any downside to this approach?
- weli 9mo ago
  > It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together I have some news for you. Lego piece tolerance is nuts. I think it is down to 2 micrometers. You can't achieve that in consumer 3d printers. Now, you can make something that kinda works like lego but it wont have the structural integrity for advanced builds.
  - stravant 9mo ago
    You can easily print bricks that work. They will just require more force to assemble than normal because you have to make them slightly undersized to make up for the lower tolerance. Just think of how many 3d prints you've seen that consist of multiple parts friction for together.
    - embedding-shape 9mo ago
      > Just think of how many 3d prints you've seen that consist of multiple parts friction for together. I've seen probably 10s, ranging from amateur-who-just-unpacked-their-printer to acquaintance who runs a business doing 3D printed products, and none of them come close to the experience of lego bricks, so far I'm not sure I'd actually call it "work". Stack 10 of these "custom" lego bricks and place them next to another stack of 10, and they almost certainly won't be as aligned as proper lego bricks, not to mention the whole thing will fall apart a lot easier.
      - Someone 9mo ago
        Also: try taking them apart a hundred times and sticking them together again. If the parts initially stuck together strongly, chances are one of the parts will break down.
spankalee 9mo ago
I'm very confused by this one. I can't tell what it really does. With Mindstorms, We Do, and Spark, you can build things that interact because you have motors, sensors, remotes, a programmable hub. This... makes noise and flashes lights?
- dmonitor 9mo ago
  Looks like it has an IMU built in, so if it has wireless it could easily integrate with some kind of software system like those. Seems like right now it's just so your space ship can make vroom sounds
- redkoala 9mo ago
  It’s a 2 x 4 Lego brick with a speaker/lightsand custom ASIC built-in, with light and sound sensors, reacting to IOT beacons that allow different sounds or light sequences. And it’s rechargeable like an electric toothbrush. It also has accelerometers that change the sounds as you twist and turn them around. The sounds themselves are generated, with the speaker driven by an onboard synthesiser.
  - EvanAnderson 9mo ago
    And it's rechargable, like e-waste. >sigh<
  - xg15 9mo ago
    The most concrete part I get is that it has a recognition and positioning system built-in, so it can recognize the IDs and relative positions of nearby beacons. Beacons are inside bricks, tags and minifigures. The bricks seem to also have some kind of color sensor to detect the color of nearby normal bricks. Then it does ... something with that information. From the promo it almost looked as if that data was fed to an LLM that could then generate an audio response that fits to the play scene. Something like "You are a <Lego Star Wars minifigure>. You are <sitting> in a <vehicle: air plane>. The vehicle is <turning along the Z axis>. What do you say?" (Where the stuff inside the brackets is inferred from the nearby beacons and the rest would be a fixed prompt template) But that would require the bricks to have an internet connection, and I have no idea if that's the case.
everyday7732 9mo ago
I wonder how it responds to being chewed.
whywhywhywhy 9mo ago
It looks like this works without a phone now I'm reading more into it, when I saw the announcement on social media I assumed it would just be a brick that can signal to or be tracked by a phone which is far less interesting. Good to see a move away from trying to bring a tablet/phone into this kind of play.
- crtasm 9mo ago
  Yes, they made this explicit in the "fact sheet" >... LEGO SMART Bricks can talk to each other directly - no app, central hub, or external controller required.
crtasm 9mo ago
More info from Lego: https://brickset.com/article/128822/smart-play-fact-sheet https://brickset.com/article/128822/smart-play-fact-sheet Hoping there will be an alternative to using a phone app for: >Firmware updates and diagnostics are handled via the LEGO SMART Assist app.
- mattetti 9mo ago
  > Series of modular synthesisers produce real-time audio, minimising memory load. > Miniature speaker is acoustically tuned through internal air spacing to amplify and clarify sound within the LEGO SMART Brick’s enclosure. > Responsive audio effects are tied to live play actions; there are no pre-recorded clips. Very interesting!
stravant 9mo ago
Desperately lacking a sound elevator pitch, eh?
newsclues 9mo ago
Is this going to be augmented reality? Like physical bricks that can be moved IRL and then you have it synchronized with a virtual environment. Lego used to have kits with electronics and motors but were always too expensive for me to afford…
jordanpg 9mo ago
I'm guessing this is post-patent expiration innovation happening at LEGO these days to counteract the growing number of generics.
alanjay 9mo ago
+1 for the "why not extend the existing range" brigade Also, another chance to post this old school version: https://youtu.be/oPqRwCILbmU https://youtu.be/oPqRwCILbmU
xg15 9mo ago
Someone watched Small Soldiers and mistook it for an instruction manual.
gwbas1c 9mo ago
I hate to be negative, but this just seems reminiscent of consumer video game hype in the 1990s; where things never lived up to the hype.
ChrisArchitect 9mo ago
The linked behind-the-scenes story gives a few more interesting insights https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/article/innovation https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/article/innovation
84729839278392 9mo ago
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deleted 9mo ago
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qingcharles 9mo ago
BTS/Making Of article: https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/article/innovation https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/article/innovation
orloffm 9mo ago
The whole Mario figures seem to provide the same level of interactivity. Not something new for the kids.

73 points by acoye 9mo ago

Watch this be like, $40 for a single brick thing.

All of their replacements for Mindstorms just come across as pieces that should have been added to the line. It's really disappointing that the discontinued it with no real replacement.

bombcar 9mo ago
It's disappointing that the company famous for making toys today that work with 50 year old bricks couldn't have kept things in the Mindstorms "ecosystem" even if replacing/new - so that those in the know could keep building on it.
philips 9mo ago
Its not mindstorms but Edison is LEGO compatible and is a nice platform. https://meetedison.com/ https://meetedison.com/

afavour 9mo ago

This reads like an unbranded version of Lego Mario. Which is absolutely fine by me.

jmarcher 9mo ago
Yes, I thought the same thing. My son loves Lego Mario and the app. He'll even go through the building instructions of kits he doesn't have just to see how they are built. The instructions in the app are super clear, animated, and the model can be rotated at any step to check whether the real-life model is correctly built. Going back to paper instructions after using the app is a pain.

A_Duck 9mo ago

Programmable logic toys like this formed the way I see the world — a system of states, conditional flow between states and the chance to design, understand and debug the system. I had Lego Mindstorms and Gen X had Logo/Turtle. With AI perhaps programmable logic will go the way of toy steam engines and crystal radios, and with it the worldview of those who grew up seeing the world as logic flows

pphysch 9mo ago
To be clear, the SMART brick is not much of a "programmable logic toy", topping out at "if near X, play U sound". Your last paragraph is spot on though.

gherkinnn 9mo ago

I like this and can't wait to see what loopy things people will come up with. Of all the ways "smart" could have been injected in to Lego these days, this is as robust as it gets.

mg 9mo ago

I don't have kids, but if I did, I would probably not go for Lego but for 3D-Printing. It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together. In all kinds of colors and all kinds of forms. I imagine the adventure of printing new pieces would be a fun thing for the kids and the parents. And when the kids are old enough, they can print pieces on their own. And a bit later design pieces on their own. Would there be any downside to this approach?

weli 9mo ago
> It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together I have some news for you. Lego piece tolerance is nuts. I think it is down to 2 micrometers. You can't achieve that in consumer 3d printers. Now, you can make something that kinda works like lego but it wont have the structural integrity for advanced builds.
- stravant 9mo ago
  You can easily print bricks that work. They will just require more force to assemble than normal because you have to make them slightly undersized to make up for the lower tolerance. Just think of how many 3d prints you've seen that consist of multiple parts friction for together.
  - embedding-shape 9mo ago
    > Just think of how many 3d prints you've seen that consist of multiple parts friction for together. I've seen probably 10s, ranging from amateur-who-just-unpacked-their-printer to acquaintance who runs a business doing 3D printed products, and none of them come close to the experience of lego bricks, so far I'm not sure I'd actually call it "work". Stack 10 of these "custom" lego bricks and place them next to another stack of 10, and they almost certainly won't be as aligned as proper lego bricks, not to mention the whole thing will fall apart a lot easier.
    - Someone 9mo ago
      Also: try taking them apart a hundred times and sticking them together again. If the parts initially stuck together strongly, chances are one of the parts will break down.

spankalee 9mo ago

I'm very confused by this one. I can't tell what it really does. With Mindstorms, We Do, and Spark, you can build things that interact because you have motors, sensors, remotes, a programmable hub. This... makes noise and flashes lights?

dmonitor 9mo ago
Looks like it has an IMU built in, so if it has wireless it could easily integrate with some kind of software system like those. Seems like right now it's just so your space ship can make vroom sounds
redkoala 9mo ago
It’s a 2 x 4 Lego brick with a speaker/lightsand custom ASIC built-in, with light and sound sensors, reacting to IOT beacons that allow different sounds or light sequences. And it’s rechargeable like an electric toothbrush. It also has accelerometers that change the sounds as you twist and turn them around. The sounds themselves are generated, with the speaker driven by an onboard synthesiser.
- EvanAnderson 9mo ago
  And it's rechargable, like e-waste. >sigh<
- xg15 9mo ago
  The most concrete part I get is that it has a recognition and positioning system built-in, so it can recognize the IDs and relative positions of nearby beacons. Beacons are inside bricks, tags and minifigures. The bricks seem to also have some kind of color sensor to detect the color of nearby normal bricks. Then it does ... something with that information. From the promo it almost looked as if that data was fed to an LLM that could then generate an audio response that fits to the play scene. Something like "You are a <Lego Star Wars minifigure>. You are <sitting> in a <vehicle: air plane>. The vehicle is <turning along the Z axis>. What do you say?" (Where the stuff inside the brackets is inferred from the nearby beacons and the rest would be a fixed prompt template) But that would require the bricks to have an internet connection, and I have no idea if that's the case.

everyday7732 9mo ago

I wonder how it responds to being chewed.

whywhywhywhy 9mo ago

It looks like this works without a phone now I'm reading more into it, when I saw the announcement on social media I assumed it would just be a brick that can signal to or be tracked by a phone which is far less interesting. Good to see a move away from trying to bring a tablet/phone into this kind of play.

crtasm 9mo ago
Yes, they made this explicit in the "fact sheet" >... LEGO SMART Bricks can talk to each other directly - no app, central hub, or external controller required.

crtasm 9mo ago

More info from Lego: https://brickset.com/article/128822/smart-play-fact-sheet https://brickset.com/article/128822/smart-play-fact-sheet Hoping there will be an alternative to using a phone app for: >Firmware updates and diagnostics are handled via the LEGO SMART Assist app.

mattetti 9mo ago
> Series of modular synthesisers produce real-time audio, minimising memory load. > Miniature speaker is acoustically tuned through internal air spacing to amplify and clarify sound within the LEGO SMART Brick’s enclosure. > Responsive audio effects are tied to live play actions; there are no pre-recorded clips. Very interesting!

stravant 9mo ago

Desperately lacking a sound elevator pitch, eh?

newsclues 9mo ago

Is this going to be augmented reality? Like physical bricks that can be moved IRL and then you have it synchronized with a virtual environment. Lego used to have kits with electronics and motors but were always too expensive for me to afford…

jordanpg 9mo ago

I'm guessing this is post-patent expiration innovation happening at LEGO these days to counteract the growing number of generics.

alanjay 9mo ago

+1 for the "why not extend the existing range" brigade Also, another chance to post this old school version: https://youtu.be/oPqRwCILbmU https://youtu.be/oPqRwCILbmU

xg15 9mo ago

Someone watched Small Soldiers and mistook it for an instruction manual.

gwbas1c 9mo ago

I hate to be negative, but this just seems reminiscent of consumer video game hype in the 1990s; where things never lived up to the hype.

ChrisArchitect 9mo ago

The linked behind-the-scenes story gives a few more interesting insights https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/article/innovation https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/article/innovation

84729839278392 9mo ago

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deleted 9mo ago

[deleted]

qingcharles 9mo ago

BTS/Making Of article: https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/article/innovation https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/article/innovation

orloffm 9mo ago

The whole Mario figures seem to provide the same level of interactivity. Not something new for the kids.