"Small speakers hum as two "Star Wars"-themed Lego lightsabers clash. Lights beam from the top of a Lego-built airplane. A roaring engine sound kicks in as multiple vehicles race across the floor. It's all part of a high-tech - and polarizing - update from Lego called Smart Play that the toymaker unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this week in Las Vegas."
"At the center of the system is what Lego calls a Smart Brick. It's the same size as the classic two-by-four Lego piece - a design that has remained largely unchanged since the company began producing plastic bricks in the early 1930s - but it contains sensors, lights, and a tiny speaker. The move pushes the famously analog toy deeper into the world of embedded technology. Among adult fans of Lego - known as AFOLs - the reaction has been mixed."
Lego unveiled Smart Play, a line centered on a Smart Brick the size of a classic two-by-four that includes sensors, lights, and a tiny speaker. The Smart Brick detects light, player movement, and proximity to figurines, enabling integrated sounds and effects across builds like Star Wars lightsabers and vehicles. Lego frames the technology as a major evolution since minifigures. Adult fans (AFOLs) responded with mixed reactions online and in interviews: some are intrigued by the interactive possibilities, while others worry electronics will raise prices and diminish imagination-based building. Concerns focus on cost increases and the 'tech-ification' of traditional analog play.
Read at Business Insider
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