Lego’s Smart Bricks Feature Non-Replaceable Batteries and Limited Sensor Availability

The initial Lego Smart Brick sets inspired by Star Wars haven’t quite met the expectations my kids and I had, largely due to programming issues. Additionally, these Smart Bricks seem to come with some technical limitations right from the start. The first sets don’t activate several of their sensors, such as the sound-detecting microphone, ambient light sensor, fine distance measurement, position, and orientation.

Elysha Zaide, a sound designer for Lego Smart Brick, mentioned during a recent livestream that more sensors will be activated with future products, highlighting that features like ambient light, position, and orientation are currently unavailable. It appears that unlocking these features may require a software update, as the Smart Brick app indicates that the built-in microphone is disabled for now and will need an update to function.

The Smart Bricks do have some operational sensors. The NFC reader can detect nearby Smart Tiles through up to seven Lego plates (approximately 22mm), and most interactions rely on motion sensing. The color sensor can identify red, green, and blue objects placed next to the Smart Brick while its LED is flashing. There’s also a basic multi-brick interaction where if one starfighter or turret fires, all others will register a “hit” and eventually “explode.”

However, this is the only multi-brick interaction available at the moment, as confirmed by Lego’s communications manager. Even a simple two-brick lightsaber duel doesn’t currently sync the two bricks. In demos at CES, bricks were shown to wirelessly connect to share colors, synchronize sounds, and engage in various games.

Another aspect revealed by Lego’s app is how it conserves the Smart Brick’s small battery life. The Smart Brick provides about 45 minutes of active playtime and goes to sleep after three minutes of inactivity (you can shake it to wake it up). It also enters a deep sleep mode after 13 hours, requiring a brief placement on its wireless charger to wake it up.

The batteries are quite small at just 45mAh, especially when compared to the 4,000mAh in a typical smartphone, and they aren’t user-replaceable. As shown in a teardown, accessing the battery is challenging due to thin, delicate antennas. Lego’s manuals recommend disposing of the entire brick safely rather than throwing it in the regular trash.

For a deeper look into the Smart Brick, there are X-ray images available. Additionally, it has been discovered that it’s already possible to clone Lego’s NFC-based Smart Tags, potentially allowing users to create their own once the community analyzes the encryption.