Over 300 scientists, physicists, mathematicians, engineers and designers pooled their combined resources in order to make LEGO SMART Play a reality.
The LEGO Group takes a bold leap into an innovative new world from March 1, 2026, with its SMART Play platform launching in six countries, starting with eight LEGO Star Wars sets. How that advanced technology came to be has been highlighted in a new promotional video from the LEGO Group and explains the numerous hurdles that had to be overcome before bringing the product to market.
“There was a rumour, in the company, that there is a magic brick coming, or there’s a team working on this,” said Interactive Model Designer, Maria Salgado, revealing how LEGO employees first learned of the existence of SMART Play.
“Lots and lots of people thought, yeah that’s cool, but it’s impossible, which is sort of my favourite place,” added Tom Donaldson, SVP Creative Play Lab. “I mean, I think it’s fair to say that I’m the father of this particular baby. It’s a magic brick that brings your LEGO sets to life. It responds to what you do. It makes your toys play back with you so that you don’t just play with them.”
The initial concept for what would ultimately become SMART Play had its humble origins in a fairly simple concept, marrying up traditional LEGO sets with the latest technology to create something fresh and truly innovative.
“We were exploring the space of what can tech and play create, and what experiences can we unlock by merging the best technology with the best thoughts around what play could be,” explained Andrew Knights, Technology Director at Cambridge Consultants, a company that partnered with the LEGO Group to develop SMART Play.
“There’s been probably over 300 scientists, physicists, mathematicians, hardware engineers, software engineers using really cutting-edge technology to try and make the absolute best toy.”
One of the key areas where all of that unique talent and tools was focused on was working on a way to try and get all of that technology packed into a small 2x4 SMART Brick, a task that initially seemed daunting at the outset of the project.
”The biggest challenge for designing sound for a system like this is, first of all, it is extremely tiny, both physically and digitally, so it’s basically working in microscale,” said Elysha Zaide, Senior Manager, Sound Design. “I’m really proud of the infinite universe that we have poured into this little brick."
Of note in the video are the inclusion of a few LEGO Jurassic Park, Marvel and City sets being used as part of the SMART Play development process, although only images of finished versions of builds from the latter theme have been revealed to date.
You’ll be able to test out the SMART Play platform for yourself when eight new LEGO Star Wars sets are released on March 1, 2026, although only
Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links. Thanks!
Comments
Be the first to comment!