LEGO unveiled the Smart Brick, set to launch later this year. (Image Credit: LEGO)
The most important announcement at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, LEGO unveiled a more interactive way to play---the Smart Brick, the main piece of its upcoming Smart Play system. Smart Brick has the potential to transform how LEGOs are built, combining physical play with responsive digital-like behavior without screens or apps. Smart Brick will debut in three LEGO Star Wars sets featuring Vader’s Tie Advanced and X-Wings. LEGO is set to launch the product on March 1, 2026.
The LEGO Bricks feature a custom 4.1mm mixed-signal ASIC that combines actuation, sensing, wireless communication, and behavior processing capabilities in a SoC. This platform includes a Play Engine logic, a low-power microcontroller-class core, a light-control subsystem, hardware sensor interfaces, a digital audio engine, and a near-field magnetic identification block. Together, these blocks compute play behaviors without relying on external devices, camera-based perception, or cloud inference.
An onboard 3-axis accelerometer provides continuous motion and orientation awareness, streaming data to the SoC. These work together to detect directional movement, tilting, shaking, free-fall, and richer motion patterns, allowing the blocks to physically react based on how they’re handled. The Play Engine then maps these motion signals to dynamic responses such as kinetic effects, character reactions, or engine-like sounds that vary with interaction.
Additionally, the chip features color, distance, and light sensors. These enable the blocks to react based on the light in their environment. For example, this optical subsystem controls the adaptive behavior of the RGB LED array, maintaining brightness and lighting effects. It’s even compatible with basic near-field optical interaction, like changes in light occlusion in response to users bringing objects close to it.
LEGO Smart Bricks come with a near-field magnetic sensing system that interacts with the new Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures. Those products have passive resonant components, which generate special electromagnetic signatures. Each signature is identified by the ASIC’s front end, determining which tag or figure is present. It also tracks the spatial relationship to support spatially responsive play. By using this magnetic-ID architecture with copper coils instead of NFC or optical pattern scanning, multiple LEGO bricks and tags can communicate without relying on power in the accessories.
The SoC uses BrickNet for multi-brick assembly coordination. BrickNet has a low-latency, Bluetooth mesh layer that provides short-range, screenless interactivity. Each LEGO Brick is designed to work as an autonomous network node that transmits local updates from nearby bricks and synchronizes behaviors across a distributed system without a central hub. Assemblies then exhibit collective behavior, in which the state or movement from one brick influences change throughout the mesh.
An internal digital sound engine, which feeds a built-in speaker, drives the audio subsystem. Instead of relying on pre-recorded clips, the system produces sound on-device, enabling reactive effects like engine noises, object impacts, character vocalizations, and atmospheric cues synthesized in real time. This approach uses minimal memory and doesn’t require frequent updates for new sounds. A sound detector is also included, and it’s used for simple acoustic triggers like tapping, blowing, or sharp noises during play.
These LEGO Bricks have a rechargeable battery inside that delivers power to the system. It uses an inductive wireless interface, enabling the blocks to operate without exposed electrical contacts.
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