LAS VEGAS: Lego has taken a major step into the future of play with the unveiling of its first-ever “smart brick” at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, marking what the company describes as its most significant innovation in decades.
At first glance, the smart brick resembles a standard Lego piece, complete with the familiar click, but its interior houses advanced electronics. The bricks can detect nearby smart bricks and minifigures, triggering lights, sounds, and gestures in response to movement. A built-in accelerometer allows each brick to react when tilted, shaken, or repositioned, opening the door to dynamic, interactive play.
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Lego engineers replaced traditional wiring with inductive charging coils, similar to those in smartphones, creating a wireless network of responsive components powered by AAA batteries and connected via Bluetooth. The system, branded as the “Smart Play System,” will launch in March 2026 with a color recognition scanner and sound synthesizer, accompanied by wireless charging pads for convenience.
LEGO announced a new “Smart Brick” at CES:
▫️built a tiny computer into 2×4 bricks
▫️bricks “come alive” by lighting up or making sounds (triggered by NFC smart tags inside smart LEGO tiles and minifigs)
▫️LEGO built its own ASIC chip (fits into brick stud and smartphone app… https://t.co/hHJb1hchth pic.twitter.com/OFYFgKNcW0— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) January 5, 2026
The first wave of products includes interactive Star Wars characters such as Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia. Each minifigure comes with a unique personality that adapts to its environment, enabling storytelling and social interaction without the need for screens.
Chief Product Officer Julia Goldin said the innovation “opens new dimensions of responsiveness, social play and storytelling,” emphasizing that the initiative promotes physical interaction and imaginative play in ways previously unattainable. Lego’s smart brick aims to redefine building sets, combining the tactile joy of traditional Lego with digital interactivity for a new generation of fans