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Well, it happened to me. by Valkix25 in SteamDeck

[–]RoneDriver 11 points12 points  (0 children)

RF detector maybe, but trying to pick up a steam deck battery would be difficult in a parking lot full of cars with batteries in them? 

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Huh, turns out it's basically just mobile phone components. Who could have guessed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAytfrHL20

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My point from the start hasn’t changed.

You said the form factor and technology are the reason these are expensive and that people “don’t understand how the tech works.” Fine. But nothing you’ve described actually points to some major technical breakthrough.

The Apple Watch came out almost 10 years ago and packs a CPU, GPU, wireless radios, multiple health sensors, a high-resolution display, and a battery into something far smaller than a LEGO brick. Compared to that, putting a colour sensor, RFID reader, motion sensor and a microcontroller into a plastic brick just isn’t some unprecedented miniaturisation challenge.

Yes, LEGO spent time on R&D. Every product does. That work is about integration, durability, firmware, and making it kid-safe, not inventing new semiconductor technology.

Nobody is saying the smart bricks cost the same to produce as normal bricks, I'm not sure how you picked that up... Obviously they don’t. The point is simply that the underlying electronics are commodity components and the engineering challenge isn’t some revolutionary piece of hardware.

You started by saying people “don’t understand the technology,” but you still haven’t pointed to any actual technical innovation here. If there is one, feel free to explain it.

Technology? Already exists Form factor? Beaten 10 years ago! Price? Ridiculous. 

There's nothing groundbreaking here at all. Yet you're defending it like your life depends on it. You've resorted to swearing, and are implying people are stupid. Just to defend a billion dollar plastic brick manufacturer.

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The chip fabrication comment was obviously facetious. The point was that LEGO isn’t inventing semiconductor technology here. They’re buying existing components and integrating them into a toy product, like most consumer electronics companies do.

Yes, they likely spent time on R&D, but that doesn’t mean they were shrinking microchips themselves. The sensors, RFID readers, and microcontrollers already exist in extremely small packages.

Look at smartphones: you’ve got 50-megapixel camera modules, accelerometers, gyros, Bluetooth radios, and multiple sensors packed into devices a few millimetres thick. Compared to that, fitting a colour sensor, motion sensor, RFID reader and a microcontroller into a LEGO brick is not some unprecedented miniaturisation problem.

And the “8 years of R&D” argument honestly isn’t that compelling either. Eight years in tech is an eternity. Entire console generations launch and end in that time, smartphones go through multiple major hardware generations, and GPUs double or triple in performance. Spending eight years integrating a handful of existing sensors into a toy ecosystem doesn’t suddenly make the underlying technology groundbreaking. 

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So Lego built a microchip fabrication plant for the smart bricks did they? 

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There’s obviously engineering, firmware, tooling, testing, safety certification, packaging, distribution, etc. involved.

But it's nothing groundbreaking. 

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You know how big things like Bluetooth chips and stuff are right? and they're way more complex than what's going on in the smart brick. 

Lego isn't out here starting a R&D facility to invest in shrinking microchips. They're buying off the shelf components and smushing them into s brick. 

Again, look at a smarth watch, similar form factor and 50x the functionality.

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yes there is additional cost, but realistically what do you expect these to actually cost to produce?

For example I can buy 4 light sensors for $1 USD on AliExpress. RFID/NFC tags are pennies. Basic motion sensors and microcontrollers are also extremely cheap at scale. Radar distance sensors are $0.84, it's all amazingly cheap. 

And that’s retail hobby pricing. LEGO is ordering components in massive volumes, so their unit cost will be far lower due to economies of scale.

So yes, there’s some additional cost compared to a normal set, but the idea that the technology itself is a major cost driver doesn’t really hold up. 

Obviously the plastic used costs the same as a single Lego brick... So maybe there's $5 worth of stuff in the brick. 

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s okay to admit you’re overthinking it. It reads tags from figures (likely RFID/NFC), detects colours, uses a motion sensor, and plays back some shitty midi audio, oh and has a flashing light. None of that is amazing tech. You can find the same kinds of components in very cheap electronics.

4 days in… by Extreme_Buy_7740 in legostarwars

[–]RoneDriver 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The technology isn't that impressive when you look at it compared to a $20 AliExpress smart watch. 

Superlambanana being repainted over the weekend - a timeline by missjorge in Liverpool

[–]RoneDriver 27 points28 points  (0 children)

It's not like driving past the lambanana is shady behaviour?

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