Lego smart brick applications?

[bruh]

So lego is releasing a new system of Smart System pieces.

Link: https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play

They advertise that the bricks can sense and interact with each other. There is a controller brick, Smart tags, which tell the brick what noises/lights,etc. to do, and also a minifigure. 

I am curious not only how well these parts interact together, but could they have uses for Technic? Can the noises be customized so we can have engine noises for trucks, cars, motorcycles, planes etc.. 

And, for those who are more adventurous with electrical work, can these be rewired to activate motors by using the sensors/receivers and connecting them to motors? 

What are your thoughts?

[Lok24]

20 minutes ago, bruh said:

Can the noises be customized

No, the sounds come from the Smart Tags.

22 minutes ago, bruh said:

can these be rewired

no. What you are Looking for is a PU hub ;-)

[Timewhatistime]

In former times, LEGO was known for wide-range compatibilty which allowed to combine nearly every part with any other, especially across different themes.

But since this is long gone past, I don't see any real use for these new gadget bricks within the TECHNIC realm.

[allanp]

I don't really see many uses for Technic. The sets they come in are small and the prices are ridiculous. Plus, they are asking customers to pay for Star wars licensing while the sets make sounds that sound nothing like Star wars but rather some generic off brand non licenced toy. 

On the plus side, I REALLY like that the smart bricks don't require any external smart devices. That is excellent and I applaud Lego for that.

Honestly I still think as far as electronic platforms go, they peaked with the 9V system. They had a simple battery box, wires with Lego bricks that could be stacked and connected in any 90 degree orientation, electric plates, ungeared motors, micro motors, buggy motors, a variety of lights, switches, a couple of smart devices free programming options with control centers and the code pilot and fully programmable options with the RCX, and the best train system with metal rails that didn't need batteries. It was mostly dirt cheap and simple Lego elements that could be combined to make anything from the simple to the complex. The only thing missing was RC (made of individual components, not the all in one prebuilt units), which could easily have been added even in the early 90s. This is really the philosophy they need to go back to. Lego is a toy that YOU build. It's not a bunch of prebuilt and expensive components stuffed with electronics that isn't really needed. If you need gear reduction, have it be buildable. If you need an encoder, have it be a separate thing that you add. PF had the right idea with it's separate RC and simple battery box but lacked a wall plug in train controller, ungeared motors, micro motor, powerful buggy motor or an equivalent to the control center/code pilot.

All this to say, maybe these new smart bricks have some use in some small overpriced 7+ technic sets, but there's a much better electric platform they could have for Technic.

[Lok24]

3 minutes ago, Timewhatistime said:

nearly every part with any other, especially across different themes.

the 12 V train theme?

4 minutes ago, Timewhatistime said:

I don't see any real use for these new gadget bricks within the TECHNIC realm.

Sound, light? That could be used in any technic set.

[allanp]

6 minutes ago, Lok24 said:

the 12 V train theme?

Sound, light? That could be used in any technic set.

Sounds that don't sound authentic? Lights that just seem to blink randomly? No. Much better to have a Technic sound brick with a selection of vehicle sounds like engines and emergency vehicle sirens etc. Didn't the code pilot from 1997 have that, that could even rev the engine sound based on the speed of the wheels? Yes. Yes it did. For lights, there's way better things they could do. 

Edited January 7 by allanp

[Stereo]

6 minutes ago, allanp said:

Didn't the code pilot from 1997 have that, that could even rev the engine sound based on the speed of the wheels? Yes. Yes it did. 

That particular part of the Code Pilot could be replicated with this brick, since it has light sensors, and that ran off the barcode reader.  Just a question of whether they decide to.  This can't power motors of course.

Edited January 7 by Stereo

[Lok24]

14 minutes ago, allanp said:

Honestly I still think as far as electronic platforms go, they peaked with the 9V system.

I think that PU offers much more possibilities. For me. Remote control, load balancing with tacho motors, use cheap standard electronic to control and so on.

But back to Smart Brick and it's properties

[allanp]

8 minutes ago, Stereo said:

That particular part of the Code Pilot could be replicated with this brick, since it has light sensors.  Just a question of whether they decide to.  This can't power motors of course.

Maybe. I guess time will tell if it can create whatever sound is desired authentically. It doesn't seem to be able to recreate the sounds from Star wars that well so I'm not hopeful. Remember, it doesn't play samples but rather creates the sounds from scratch based on instructions from the RFID tagged tiles.

Edited January 7 by allanp

[bruh]

49 minutes ago, Lok24 said:

no. What you are Looking for is a PU hub ;-)

Yes, I know that I could use that. My thought was not only would using the smart brick be smaller, but there would be no need to run code or have anything plugged together. I’m thinking for something like GBCs, when the sensor and controller come in proximity, if the controller and motor were integrated then anytime the sensor comes near the motor-controller, the motor would move.

[gyenesvi]

For me, this shows that Lego can do some advanced miniature electronics stuff if it wants to, question is whether they will use this kind of technology to implement a next generation of technic electronics. For example, wireless charging might not be such a bad idea. I wonder how that works with this brick, what proximity is required. I mean, does the brick need to be taken out of the model, or can it be charged inside the model?

[Toastie]

3 minutes ago, gyenesvi said:

I mean, does the brick need to be taken out of the model, or can it be charged inside the model?

At this brick size = max. magnetic flux receptor area and non-resonant charging, I doubt it will charge effectively inside a model at all. But - who knows what's inside. 

Best
Thorsten

[HorcikDesigns]

Well, I am sure that I will not be getring this thong, bit I am not sure what to think about it. Mainszream Technic vehicles or model Team MOCs will not probably be equipped with these bricks, but I see many use cases where they will be useful. Technic is not only about vehicles, right? 

[Mr Hobbles]

3 hours ago, Lok24 said:

No, the sounds come from the Smart Tags.

I'm not ruling that out yet, until we get our hands on it and can experiment with it. They've mentioned the Smart Brick can connect to a phone for firmware updates, and it uses Bluetooth Low Energy. Who knows what capabilities that connection has. Reading sensors? Controlling lights? Playing sounds?

I actually have a hunch that it's using the same underlying tech as Lego Science Education ("Coral") - https://github.com/nathankellenicki/node-coral

[Stereo]

2 hours ago, allanp said:

Remember, it doesn't play samples but rather creates the sounds from scratch based on instructions from the RFID tagged tiles.

Ah, I didn't hear about that part of it. I've never even looked into making custom RFID tags, sounds like it would be a bit more specialized than printing custom barcodes.  But they only store a few hundred bits of data so it can't be all that much to decode if you had a radio transmitter on the right wavelength.

[pleegwat]

The link at the top of the thread doesn't work for me, but this sounds similar to me to the lego mario stuff.

[Lok24]

37 minutes ago, pleegwat said:

The link at the top of the thread doesn't work for me

No, they all vanished an hour ago!

[M_longer]

21 hours ago, allanp said:

I REALLY like that the smart bricks don't require any external smart devices.

It does, for parents. There's a parent app, allowing to change the volume of sounds etc.

[bruh]

13 hours ago, pleegwat said:

The link at the top of the thread doesn't work for me, but this sounds similar to me to the lego mario stuff.

 

13 hours ago, Lok24 said:

No, they all vanished an hour ago!

The link still works. 

Here it is again just in case 

https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play

[Lok24]

6 hours ago, bruh said:

The link still works. 

Hi, nope, now it works again

Pages were down for many hours yesterday in many languages, as described by @pleegwat

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Smart Bricks will be available only in US, UK, France, Germany, Poland, and Australia.

This probably means it's not gonna be adopted in Technic any time soon.

[SNIPE]

I think the smart brick can be used with other sensors as long as those sensors are controlled by a hub pf some sort.

For example we could have a smart brick send sound to a sound sensor and light to another sensor.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Each of the upcoming smart brick sets comes with its own charger plate.

Sounds like a lot of electronic waste.

[Lok24]

9 minutes ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Sounds like a lot of electronic waste.

The idea is that you can place the complete set on the plate, as I understood the description

[blondasek]

Is it a great idea for kids? It is.

Will it be affordable in the current economy by many kids? Not at all.

This product can succeed only if the price will not be too high. Otherwise it is just a simpler and more expensive mindstorm for 4-5 years old kids who want to swoosh things around and play some scenarios. Although I see one interesting opportunity - it would be amazing to include them in some kind of bigger chess. It will be expensive as hell (32 bricks, hehe xd) but hey! At least it could be a bit interesting :)

With the final judgment I will wait for the release of more sets but I do not see it anytime soon in Technics or any other adult set.