Lego is rolling out a high-tech twist on its classic bricks, though not everyone is thrilled about it. At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, the Danish company introduced "Smart Bricks," sensor-packed tiny blocks that light up, make sounds, and respond to movement, launching in March with a Star Wars set, reports the BBC. Lego calls the Smart Play system its "most revolutionary innovation" in nearly half a century, saying it "seamlessly" blends physical and digital play and treats technology as a way to expand upon traditional building.
Some child development advocates argue that the move risks chipping away at what made the toy iconic. Josh Golin of the nonprofit Fairplay says Smart Bricks "undermine what was once great about Legos," contending that kids already animate their creations through imagination alone. By embedding sensors and scripted reactions, he warns, Lego shifts control from children's creativity to the tech baked into the bricks.
The Smart Play system goes beyond the brick itself, linking Smart Bricks with "Smart Minifigures" and "Smart Tags" that carry digital identifiers. The whole shebang is tied together via a wireless layer called BrickNet, per Engadget. Together, they trigger different responses. A test demo, for instance, showed a Lego cake recognizing when its candles were "blown out" and playing a birthday song, while a helicopter emitted whooshing sounds and lit up red when it was crashed, per the BBC.
Experts are divided rather than outright opposed. Andrew Manches, a professor of children and technology at the University of Edinburgh, praised Lego's attempt to tie physical and digital play more tightly, while still warning that the toy's magic lies in the open-ended freedom of simple blocks. He and others also flag broader concerns about smart toys, including privacy, security, and the growing use of AI. Lego, which has already experimented with augmented reality and game tie-ins with Nintendo and Epic Games, has signaled in its annual report that digital technology is now a prioritized strategic focus. Check out what these two reporters thought of the new bricks after some playtime.
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