Lego Smart Brick General Discussion/Concerns Topic

[MAB]

It is nice to see a teardown showing how it works. It is quite amazing they can get all that into the main brick. 

[JesseNight]

Give it a few more years and it'll be in a plate instead of a brick 

[Toastie]

9 hours ago, JesseNight said:

plate instead of a brick

But ... what happens to the swallowing issue? Wait, I know: Round corners 

Actually, we will have an award talk tomorrow at the DGMS conference in Leipzig about VLSI devices designed for nano-scaled in vivo analyses. I'll report back.

Maybe you can soon swallow a Super-Smart Brick (or SSB, with round corners of course) and then actually experience all the noise through intra-neuron transmissions!

We'll see. Best!
Thorsten

 

[JesseNight]

I'm not sure what swallowing issue you mean @Toastie, but I can't imagine a smart brick being higher risk of being swallowed than a dumb brick of the same size? Same goes for plates, obviously.

[dr_spock]

Being stuck in the throat or digesting the 45mAh lithium battery may not provide a good outcome.

[MAB]

9 hours ago, dr_spock said:

Being stuck in the throat or digesting the 45mAh lithium battery may not provide a good outcome.

I would hope by age 6 that kids would know that you don't eat LEGO bricks, whether they contain batteries or not.

[JesseNight]

Exactly. And when letting them play below the recommended age, it's up to parents to provide some supervision rather than blaming manufacturers.
Not sure how dangerous swallowing such a battery really is. Yes I know that the battery itself is dangerous, but it's in a plastic casing and our stomach cannot digest plastic as far as I know.

[Auroralampinen]

Ok, this is really sad:(. 

 

Edited Friday at 04:00 PM by Auroralampinen

[JesseNight]

"Who are these sets really for?"
For LEGO of course, to sell something new for profit  Sorry if this sounds harsh but that's just reality of business.

I understand why it can keep attention only so short. I had the same with 9V Light & Sound in the late 1980s. It's fun for a short time, but the novelty wears off fast. Creative building is exactly what gives LEGO a long term appeal, so that should remain top priority for new sets. Or are young people not so interested anymore in building, in a time where everything is expected to be automated and fast? L&S could at least be easily re-used in any custom build that had space for the battery holder. Smart brick has some re-usability, but remains limited by the functions the smart tiles and minifigs and colors allow it to do.

As for the broken brick in the videos, looks a lot like his charger might be what's broken, and by leaving it off for 24 hours after first support reply the brick battery went completely dead.

Edited Saturday at 10:20 AM by JesseNight

[Auroralampinen]

On 3/13/2026 at 5:57 PM, Auroralampinen said:

Ok, this is really sad:(. 

 

Update for the broken smart brick:). 

 

[Toastie]

On 3/13/2026 at 11:24 AM, JesseNight said:

Exactly. And when letting them play below the recommended age, it's up to parents to provide some supervision rather than blaming manufacturers.

OK, it was meant to be sarcastic.

There were the train magnets, had to be encased due to possible swallowing issues. You know Cobalt and stuff. There were the metal pieces exposed on 9V rails. Licking issues; Nickel and stuff. The 1x1 plate was never discussed, as it comes out as is. Corners may be bad, but that would pull the plug. These are all EU etc. regulations; that is why the crossed-out trash can is on the smart minifig, because not so smart parents supervising the children may actually trash them.

The 6-year tag is to make sure, legals don't come after TLG, when a 3 years old swallows one or two smart bricks. If they do, it is their fault. Or that of the caring parents, or other adults in the room. As if they were ever catching it 

I never got the swallowing bit - in train world it totally p*ssed me off. The encased magnets a) don't perform as well and b) look much worse.

It must have been an issue though. Well, another on bites the dust 

All the best
Thorsten 

[JesseNight]

12 hours ago, Toastie said:

It must have been an issue though. Well, another on bites the dust 

Yeah... But what do they expect? If you put 100 children in a room with small stuff, of course a few will start licking or swallowing stuff. Every human is unique, on that age too.
I understand the age tag thing and the legal concerns yes.
 

13 hours ago, Toastie said:

I never got the swallowing bit - in train world it totally p*ssed me off. The encased magnets a) don't perform as well and b) look much worse.

Yeah it always p%ssed me off too. And not just with LEGO, but also other toys that made things look inaccurate or bad just to overcome these swallowing risks.
On the other side, even as a kid I never understood the appeal of eating my toys 

[MAB]

4 hours ago, JesseNight said:

Yeah it always p%ssed me off too. And not just with LEGO, but also other toys that made things look inaccurate or bad just to overcome these swallowing risks.
On the other side, even as a kid I never understood the appeal of eating my toys 

Magnets can do serious damage if ingested, especially if two magnets are ingested as they can clamp parts of the stomach together causing blockages, and can also trap blood vessels. That is why manufactures label the warning when there is a small part that contains a magnet and has the possibility of coming loose. I don't think it is children trying to eat them that is the problem, but accidental ingestion when they are already holding something else in their other hand and so they hold the magnetic part in their teeth to pull two pieces apart and then it suddenly detaches and gets swallowed. The warning just makes sure the parent knows either to make sure the toy is age appropriate, or they supervise the child or make sure that they don't put the parts in their mouth. And of course, covers the manufacturer if the parent sues because they were not warned.