Lego unveils new ‘good bricks’ with interactive lights and sounds

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Lego has unveiled new high-tech “good bricks” it says will deliver its basic toys to life with lights, sound and interactive motion.

However one knowledgeable on early studying says that might reduce the potential for imaginative play that makes Lego a very good toy for kids’s growth.

The Danish toymaker unveiled its new Good Play system this week on the Client Electronics Present in Las Vegas. It contains bricks and minifigures with digital components comparable to miniature audio system and sensors that enable the toys to reply to motion and sound.

For instance, a brand new Star Wars-themed set options items that make lightsabre hums and engine noises, whereas a Lego helicopter could make whooshing sounds when moved or rotated.

The toymaker mentioned in a information launch the brand new merchandise are “designed to encourage youngsters” and “deliver an interactive play expertise … filled with exploration and imaginative storytelling.”

Early Lego toys, just like the unfastened bricks that may very well be put collectively in numerous alternative ways, had been nice for encouraging imaginative play as a result of they gave youngsters the liberty to construct no matter they needed, says Mariana Brussoni, professor within the school of drugs on the College of British Columbia and director of the Human Early Studying Partnership.

Nevertheless, the extra trendy Lego kits which might be constructed into particular, predetermined issues can restrict that potential for creativeness — and make them much less efficient as a growth device, she mentioned.

Brussoni says these newest merchandise might have comparable limitations.

“If a baby is listening to a helicopter sound from this explicit brick, they don't seem to be going to be utilizing it in ways in which do not in any other case signify a helicopter proper?” she mentioned.

“It is simply type of limiting youngsters's choices when it comes to how their creativeness can form their play.”

WATCH | Different considerations over high-tech toys: Toys loaded with AI chatbots are right here, however are they protected for youths?

Toys for kids that use AI to strike up a chat are hitting the market, however consultants say they’ve encountered toys giving sexually specific info and recommendations on lighting matches and are calling for extra regulation. Sensory points Dr. Jillian Roberts, a professor of academic psychology on the College of Victoria, says she thinks something that retains youngsters off of screens and encourages them to play with one another is a optimistic factor.

“If Lego might make one thing that makes it cool to not be on a tool or on a display, getting youngsters again constructing issues and interacting with one another in actual life, I do not see that as a nasty factor,” she mentioned.

However the toys may not be applicable for youths with sensory points, comparable to these with autism spectrum dysfunction or photosensitive epilepsy, she mentioned.

“So mother and father which might be shopping for these toys must be considerate about their kid's capacity to handle the sensory enter of them.”

The brand new toys are set to hit the market on March 1, with pre-orders opening this Friday, Lego's web site says.

They’re additionally not low-cost: a Darth Vader-themed set is priced at $69.99 US (or about $97) whereas one other that includes Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia is priced at $89.99 US (or simply over $124).