LEGO Reveals the Smart Brick, a Technology-Packed Toy Piece Dubbed 'The Next Exciting Chapter' for the Company's Future, Launching Inside New Star Wars Sets

LEGO has announced the Smart Brick, a chip-powered portion owed to beryllium integrated into upcoming sets that it describes arsenic "the adjacent breathtaking chapter" of the 90-year-old artifact company.

The Smart Brick contains a raft of sensors to way light, dependable and movement, arsenic good arsenic a miniature talker and onboard synthesizer. LEGO has said its advancement houses "more than 20 patented world-firsts" and tin beryllium wirelessly charged.

Alongside the Smart Brick, LEGO is besides readying to rotation retired Smart Minifigures with akin functionalilty inside, each portion of a caller exertion level it has simply dubbed Smart Play. Fans volition get a archetypal accidental to effort it each retired successful the adjacent future, too, via a caller scope of Smart Play-powered LEGO Star Wars sets.

LEGO Smart Play successful enactment via the company's caller Star Wars sets. Image credit: LEGO.

"For implicit 90 years, the LEGO Group has sparked imaginativeness and creativity successful children astir the globe," said Julia Goldin, Chief Product & Marketing Officer of the LEGO Group. "As the satellite evolves, truthful bash we — innovating to conscionable the play needs of each caller generation. LEGO Smart Play is the adjacent breathtaking section successful our LEGO System successful Play and thing we are ace excited astir being capable to bring to the satellite astatine this scale."

How does it each work? For anyone acquainted with LEGO's erstwhile interactive Super Mario artifact range, Smart Play looks to beryllium an improvement of this, with the Smart Brick capable to observe circumstantial interactions with different interactive elements and Smart Tags.

The archetypal question of LEGO Star Wars Smart Play sets volition see the 584-piece Luke's Red Five X-Wing ($99.99), the 473-piece Darth Vader's TIE Fighter ($69.99) and the larger 962-piece Throne Room Duel & A-Wing acceptable ($159.99).

These diagnostic interactive elements powered by Smart Brick, Smart Figures and Smart Tags, letting you spot engines airy up, perceive laser guns occurrence and lightsabers hum. The Throne Room acceptable volition adjacent fto you perceive The Imperial March erstwhile Emperor Palpatine sits connected his throne. Each acceptable volition beryllium disposable to pre-order from January 9, and motorboat connected March 1.

How integral volition Smart Play beryllium to LEGO's future? For now, the institution is keeping coy connected precisely however galore sets volition see the caller functionality, though rumors abound that it volition play a cardinal portion successful the LEGO Pokémon scope owed to motorboat this year.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social