The Lego Group announced Lego Boost, a supercharged building and coding set that lets children bring their Lego creations to life by adding movement, sound and personality. Lego Boost combines endless play opportunities of a traditional Lego set with a limitless variety of movement and sound capabilities made possible through an easy-to-use, app-based coding environment.
Lego Boost has been developed for children ages 7 and older by an international team of Lego designers. Using familiar Lego elements and simple coding language, Lego Boost delivers an intuitive approach and opportunities for quick success.
Powered by a Move Hub, a Lego stud-covered brick with built-in tilt sensor upon which children can add Lego elements, motors and a sensor that combines color and distance detection, Lego Boost brings movement to any LEGO creation.
The set includes building instructions for five diverse models: Vernie the Robot, Frankie the Cat, the Guitar 4000, the Multi-Tool Rover 4 (M.T.R.4), and the Autobuilder, each designed to give children the basic building and coding skills needed to express their creativity by personalizing whatever they build.
Lego Boost introduces children to coding through a free downloadable app that contains the guidance, building instructions and simple coding commands to bring to life five Lego creations, one at a time. Much like building with Lego bricks, children build behaviors and actions by linking digital coding blocks in an easy-to-understand horizontal layout.
To further personify the experience, Lego Boost lets children add voice recordings to their creations, adding personality without requiring spelling and typing. The app also includes more than 60 activities designed to inspire additional building, coding and play.
To further inspire creative building and coding, the Lego Boost app includes a creative canvas that includes basic building instructions for three simple base models that children can use to customize their own Lego creations. The three bases available at launch include: a walking base for making animals like a dragon or a pony, a driving base for building vehicles like a dune buggy or rover, and an entrance base so that children can make their own castle, fort, or even a futuristic space station. Once children are comfortable with building and coding the various Lego Boost models, they can use the kit to boost any Lego creation – from Lego City and Lego Friends to Lego Ninjago and The Lego Batman Movie.
Each Lego Boost pack includes: 3 Boost bricks, move hub with built-in tilt sensors, combination color & distance sensor, interactive motor, 843 Lego elements, play mat, calibrated to the app, designed to facilitate mini challenges to practice simple coding trials. The Lego Boost App is free for download on iOS and Android and is tablet compatible. With a suggested retail price of US$159.99 Lego Boost will be available in the second half of 2017. Lego Boost uses 6 AAA batteries. Alkaline batteries are recommended, but rechargeable batteries can be used, though may result in weaker power output.
The Lego Group is a privately held, family-owned company with headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and main offices in USA, UK, China and Singapore. Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and based on the iconic Lego brick, it is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of play materials.
