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New Lego smart-play system

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Re: New Lego smart-play system

#21

Post by fwip »

spankalee wrote: post #7

I'm very confused by this one. I can't tell what it really does . With Mindstorms, We Do, and Spark, you can build things that interact because you have motors, sensors, remotes, a programmable hub. This... makes noise and flashes lights?

As far as I can tell, it's Amiibo, but Lego. The 'smart brick' has a couple sensors, speakers, and lights, including an NFC-ish reader. The minifigs and 'smart cards' are your amiibos that tell the brick what to do.

It definitely doesn't look like it's aspiring to be the programmable environment that Mindstorms was. There may be a way for a tech enthusiast to make custom smart cards and logic, but I wouldn't count on it. Would be happy to be proven wrong.

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#22

Post by bitexploder »

weli wrote: post #9
mg wrote: post #6

I don't have kids, but if I did, I would probably not go for Lego but for 3D-Printing. It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together. In all kinds of colors and all kinds of forms. I imagine the adventure of printing new pieces would be a fun thing for the kids and the parents. And when the kids are old enough, they can print pieces on their own. And a bit later design pieces on their own. Would there b…

> It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together I have some news for you. Lego piece tolerance is nuts. I think it is down to 2 micrometers. You can't achieve that in consumer 3d printers. Now, you can make something that kinda works like lego but it wont have the structural integrity for advanced builds.

This. Even resin printers only get you kind of in the neighborhood of tolerance. Lego primarily uses injection molding for their parts. Their molds are insanely tight and low tolerance. One of the key costs of Lego bricks is the lifecycle of the molds. They don't last forever and lose tolerance over the course of several hundred thousand injections. Managing these molds and the sheer variety of parts they produce borders on logistical insanity. It is one of the most impressive logistics operations on the planet. I can build a functional car with fewer discrete pieces than large modern lego sets.

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#23

Post by embedding-shape »

stravant wrote: post #17
weli wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together I have some news for you. Lego piece tolerance is nuts. I think it is down to 2 micrometers. You can't achieve that in consumer 3d printers. Now, you can make something that kinda works like lego but it wont have the structural integrity for advanced builds.

You can easily print bricks that work. They will just require more force to assemble than normal because you have to make them slightly undersized to make up for the lower tolerance. Just think of how many 3d prints you've seen that consist of multiple parts friction for together.

> Just think of how many 3d prints you've seen that consist of multiple parts friction for together.

I've seen probably 10s, ranging from amateur-who-just-unpacked-their-printer to acquaintance who runs a business doing 3D printed products, and none of them come close to the experience of lego bricks, so far I'm not sure I'd actually call it "work". Stack 10 of these "custom" lego bricks and place them next to another stack of 10, and they almost certainly won't be as aligned as proper lego bricks, not to mention the whole thing will fall apart a lot easier.

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#24

Post by mattetti »

crtasm wrote: post #13

More info from Lego: https://brickset.com/article/128822/smart-play-fact-sheet Hoping there will be an alternative to using a phone app for: >Firmware updates and diagnostics are handled via the LEGO SMART Assist app.

> Series of modular synthesisers produce real-time audio, minimising memory load. > Miniature speaker is acoustically tuned through internal air spacing to amplify and clarify sound within the LEGO SMART Brick’s enclosure. > Responsive audio effects are tied to live play actions; there are no pre-recorded clips.

Very interesting!

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#25

Post by j2kun »

spankalee wrote: post #7

I'm very confused by this one. I can't tell what it really does . With Mindstorms, We Do, and Spark, you can build things that interact because you have motors, sensors, remotes, a programmable hub. This... makes noise and flashes lights?

Doesn't it have sensors too? I recall reading about proximity sensors to other smart bricks, as well as accelerometer and orientation sensors.

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#26

Post by woah »

mg wrote: post #6

I don't have kids, but if I did, I would probably not go for Lego but for 3D-Printing. It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together. In all kinds of colors and all kinds of forms. I imagine the adventure of printing new pieces would be a fun thing for the kids and the parents. And when the kids are old enough, they can print pieces on their own. And a bit later design pieces on their own. Would there b…

Not to discourage you, but it sounds like you'd be getting into a nerdy programmer dad hobby instead of just giving your kids toys. I doubt your children would be interested in watching you for hundreds of hours while you learn to use 3d modeling software and debug printer feed speeds. And once they were old enough (10-13+) to appreciate technical slogs, why wouldn't they do something cooler like make actual robots instead of reproducing a toy that you can buy a much better version of for $10?

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#27

Post by bombcar »

Larrikin wrote: post #2

All of their replacements for Mindstorms just come across as pieces that should have been added to the line. It's really disappointing that the discontinued it with no real replacement.

It's disappointing that the company famous for making toys today that work with 50 year old bricks couldn't have kept things in the Mindstorms "ecosystem" even if replacing/new - so that those in the know could keep building on it.

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#28

Post by alexriddle »

afavour wrote: post #18
mg wrote: post #6

I don't have kids, but if I did, I would probably not go for Lego but for 3D-Printing. It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together. In all kinds of colors and all kinds of forms. I imagine the adventure of printing new pieces would be a fun thing for the kids and the parents. And when the kids are old enough, they can print pieces on their own. And a bit later design pieces on their own. Would there b…

There are off-brand budget Lego blocks available and they're (in my experience) all awful. Legos are very precisely manufactured to fit together smoothly, if the off-brand ones made in a factory can't replicate that then I don't have much hope for small-scale 3D printing.

The gap is reducing significantly - I have collected and built Lego for a long time and had this opinion but have recently discovered Lumibricks (formerly Funwhole) - excellent designs, and around 1/2 the price of Lego (but they all include lighting elements) and having put them together I can say they feel exactly like Lego. I believe there are other brands of similar quality.

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#29

Post by crtasm »

j2kun wrote: post #25
spankalee wrote: post #7

I'm very confused by this one. I can't tell what it really does . With Mindstorms, We Do, and Spark, you can build things that interact because you have motors, sensors, remotes, a programmable hub. This... makes noise and flashes lights?

Doesn't it have sensors too? I recall reading about proximity sensors to other smart bricks, as well as accelerometer and orientation sensors.

>Accelerometer detects movement, tilt, and gesture

>proprietary Neighbour Position Measurement (NPM) system uses precision copper coils to let LEGO SMART bricks sense distance, direction, and orientation between multiple LEGO SMART Bricks.

Until it can trigger motors it doesn't feel super exciting to me.

Re: New Lego smart-play system

#30

Post by rc5150 »

weli wrote: post #9
mg wrote: post #6

I don't have kids, but if I did, I would probably not go for Lego but for 3D-Printing. It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together. In all kinds of colors and all kinds of forms. I imagine the adventure of printing new pieces would be a fun thing for the kids and the parents. And when the kids are old enough, they can print pieces on their own. And a bit later design pieces on their own. Would there b…

> It shouldn't be hard to print pieces that can snap together I have some news for you. Lego piece tolerance is nuts. I think it is down to 2 micrometers. You can't achieve that in consumer 3d printers. Now, you can make something that kinda works like lego but it wont have the structural integrity for advanced builds.

Not only tolerance, but also the fact that fused deposition is just not as accurate/dense/strong as injection molding when it comes to the building-blocks application.

disclaimer: i'm not a materials scientist, just a tinkerer who 3D prints and wishes they had the capability to do injection molding.

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