Lego Smart Play hands-on: Using technology to get kids to play together

Lego’s caller Smart Play system, announced astatine CES earlier this week, is an clasp of integer exertion nan likes of which we haven’t seen from nan institution before. And while nan objection it gave connected Monday was a bully commencement towards showing conscionable what Lego’s Smart Brick is tin of, there’s nary substitute for seeing it successful person. Fortunately, an extended demo answered a batch of my questions connected really nan strategy will activity erstwhile kids and adults get their hands connected nan first information of sets pinch Smart Play.

As I elaborate yesterday, nan Smart Play strategy contains 3 elements. The Smart Brick is packed pinch exertion for illustration proximity sensors, an accelerometer, colour sensors and a speaker, each powered by a mini chip. It’s important to cognize that each Smart Brick is identical astatine this point; to really bring a group to life, you request to harvester it pinch Smart Tags aliases Smart Minifigures. Both nan Tags and Minifigures incorporate circumstantial instructions that thief nan Brick understand nan discourse that it is placed in.

The demo started retired simply, pinch 3 mini Lego builds: a car, a chopper and a duck. Each of those builds had a unsocial Smart Tag that nan Smart Brick uses to understand really it should respond to real-world stimulus. The car started making nan sound of a revving engine, and erstwhile playing pinch it to thrust it faster and much aggressively, nan motor made much noise. Tilting nan car would origin it to make immoderate screeching sounds arsenic if it was taking corners hard, and flipping it complete would make nan sound of a car wreck.

The Smart Brick tin likewise consciousness what circumstantial Smart Minifigures is adjacent it and respond accordingly. Since nan first 3 Smart Play sets are each based connected Star Wars, it’s a small easier to explicate really they interact pinch nan Smart Brick. Take nan Throne Room Duel & A-Wing group — it includes Smart Minifigs for Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine, and location are besides Smart Tags that correspond to various actions nan characters tin take. If you spot a Smart Brick down Palpatine’s throne, nan classical “Imperial March” taxable will ringing retired and Palpatine himself will chatter a bit. The Minifigures don’t really opportunity existent words, but they tin still embody their characters good enough. Vader, for example, offers his classical breathing sound and exclaim if he’s defeated successful a ray saber duel.

That duel is simply a clever portion of this set. There are moveable mounts you tin spot Luke and Vader on, on pinch a Smart Brick. To complete nan conflict scene, a Smart Tag tells nan ceramic to return connected nan characteristics basal for a ray saber battle. As such, erstwhile you spot nan Minifigures successful nan mount, you’ll perceive nan classical sound of a ray saber humming to life. And if you move nan characters astir and clang them together, you’ll perceive nan sounds of battle. Finally, knocking a Minifigure disconnected its spot will show nan ceramic associated pinch that characteristic to make their trademark sound of conclusion — successful Vader’s case, that’s nan iconic “noooooooo.”

The different 2 caller Smart Play sets are Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter and Luke’s Red Five X-Wing — an perfect brace for immoderate space-based dogfighting. The X-Wing shows disconnected really bully nan Smart Brick is astatine handling aggregate inputs. Adding it to nan X-Wing will make sounds of nan vessel humming to life, acknowledgment to nan X-Wing-specific Smart Tile. Sit Luke successful nan cockpit and you’ll perceive nan Jedi taxable euphony play, and seating R2-D2 successful nan backmost will make nan Droid chatter astatine you successful its acquainted tones.

Pitting nan 2 ships against each different shows disconnected much of nan Smart Brick’s capabilities. Grabbing nan ships and whooshing them done nan aerial will make nan Smart Brick play sounds that aren’t conscionable generic motor noises — you tin decidedly perceive nan quality betwixt nan X-Wing and nan TIE fighter. Each vessel besides has lasers you tin activate, and if 2 kids are successful nan aforesaid room flying ships astir and firing disconnected lasers, you’ll perceive nan ships taking “damage” arsenic well. Firing capable shots while aiming astatine different vessel will yet origin it to play immoderate exploding sounds to bespeak that it has gone up successful flames — nan Minifigures associated pinch nan vessel will besides make sounds of dismay, arsenic well.

At first glance, nan sets themselves don’t consciousness wildly different than different smaller-scale Star Wars sets, but nan group from nan Lego Group giving nan demo pointed retired a fewer notable characteristics. The TIE combatant and X-Wing are some specifically designed to withstand much maltreatment from progressive play scenarios than nan mean Lego set, and they’re besides specifically designed to fresh will successful a kid’s manus truthful they tin tally astir and propel them done nan air. The Throne Room set, meanwhile, has a detachable area wherever Luke and Vader tin conflict — you tin region and re-attach it to nan throne area easy enough, but it’s bully to abstracted it retired for much fierce ray saber battles.

All told, I’m rather excited to spot wherever Lego goes pinch its Smart Play strategy from here. Starting retired pinch immoderate simpler sets from a monolithic franchise for illustration Star Wars is simply a logical measurement to present nan system. There are evident play scenarios that make cleanable consciousness arsenic a measurement to show disconnected nan Smart Brick. But I’m looking guardant to a clip erstwhile Lego starts trading tiles and Minifigures that tin grow nan capabilities of existing sets, whether they’re licensed aliases not. And nan thought of smushing together Star Wars pinch immoderate of nan galore different properties that Lego has entree to (Jurassic World? DC aliases Marvel? Despicable Me aliases Bluey?) feels for illustration conscionable nan benignant of chaotic nosy kids will emotion having.

That’s possibly nan astir important constituent astir Smart Play. While Lego has made awesome overtures for capturing nan hearts and wallets of big Lego fans, Smart Play is very intelligibly aimed astatine kids correct now. There are nary screens, apps aliases setup needed for Smart Play — it seems exceedingly easy to conscionable prime up and commencement playing. Furthermore, Lego is utilizing this exertion to make Lego sets much interactive, thing nan institution hopes will promote much societal play amongst kids. That’s a coagulated usage of nan exertion packed into a Smart Brick if you inquire me.