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Lego has ushered bricks into a new generation of play with the launch of smart bricks that contain codes to light up, interact with other bricks, and make sounds.
The Danish company announced the technology on Monday at the CES 2026 technology conference in Las Vegas. Euronews Next attended the press conference.
2×4 smart bricks have embedded code and smarts that can be reused on other bricks and characters.
In the demonstration, smart bricks were attached to a Lego duck to make a rattling noise. Elsewhere, attaching a smart brick to a character who was hit by a car would emit a sound indicating that the character was dissatisfied.
You can also pick up the color of a brick and emit the same color.
Lego Group senior vice president Tom Donaldson said each tag code, smart blocks can become anything, kids can combine them to make anything they can, the minifigures contain codes, and although some are grumpy, everyone is great.
“What makes this special is its size, sensing, and the fact that it’s packed with smart features that work together on the platform. Kids can reuse that smart link in hundreds of ways. Physical play allows for limitless imagination,” he added.
The company, which has been around for more than 70 years, said it can be easily charged using an all-new wireless charger that Lego will be launching at the same time as the system.
Lego’s popular Star Wars series will also incorporate smart blocks. The first smart bricks will first appear in the Star Wars series in March, the company said.
The price is higher than non-smart sets.
Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter is a 473-piece set that includes a smart Darth Vader minifigure, 1 smart brick and 1 smart tag, priced at almost 70 euros. Luke’s Red Five X-Wing is a 584-piece set that includes 2 smart minifigures, 1 smart brick, and 5 smart tags, and costs almost 100 euros.
The company said that children’s limitless imagination has not changed, adding that we now live in a world of digital technology and children are digital natives, so they want to innovate while staying true to their systems without using screens.
“This is the beginning of a great journey,” Julia Goldin, LEGO Group’s chief product and marketing officer, said at the conference.
“I can’t wait to see what happens next and the possibilities it will unlock in terms of creativity in the world of LEGO sets and LEGO experiences,” she added.