An Inside Look at Lego’s New Tech-Packed Smart Brick

No one outside of Lego

has ever seen these prototypes before, until now.

WIRED was given exclusive access

to go behind the scene at Lego's HQ

in Billund, Denmark,

to learn more about the results

of a seven year project

that Lego believes will safeguard its future

as the world's biggest toy brand by revenue.

The Smart Brick, aimed at transporting distinctly analog

plastic bricks into a new world of interactive play,

rhe two by four Smart Brick features a custom design chip,

running bespoke software that allows it to monitor

and react to motion, orientation, magnetic fields and more.

It's undoubtedly the most radical product

Lego has produced since the Mini Figure.

The tech crammed in here is built from scratch,

including a light array accelerometer, light sensors,

sound sensor, miniature speaker, a battery

with wireless charging and more.

One of the many red lines of the project,

which partly explains why it was so long in development,

is that it had to be screen free.

So Lego had to develop a brick to brick positioning system

that uses copper coils to sense other bricks

and communicate with them.

The Smart Brick is a self organizing network

with no setup, no app,

no central hub, and no external controllers.

In all, there are more than 20 patented

world firsts inside.

The feature the team is most proud of, however,

is a brand new, millimeter accurate

3D positioning system,

the closest counterpart of which Lego saw

is the tech inside an F16 fighter jet,

which is fairly apt, since the first Smart Brick

equipped sets on sale from March one

are all Star Wars themed.

The Smart Brick is a remarkable achievement,

forced into existence through science,

dogged perseverance, and play.

[figure whirring]