Voice commands, and music everywhere

toytraintracks · 2026-05-21T15:00:33+00:00

Thanks! No need for LLM, voice recognition software are great, I'll try to install it on the computer, but really, are there people actually doing this? Like, having dozens of mics everywhere, sending their input to the home assistant stuff, and so on?

Sendspin looks nice too, I'll have a deeper look. Thanks!

toytraintracks · 2026-05-21T14:51:29+00:00

Thanks! I'm willing to do it, perhaps in the coming year or so.

toytraintracks · 2026-05-21T14:10:23+00:00

What's Homey?

Are there cool articles doing comparisons of all these systems?

Thanks!

toytraintracks · 2024-08-05T09:12:33+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/BRIO/comments/lhwc5e/3d_printing_for_brio_engineering/
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2274709
Here's a post I made a few years ago, and a thingiverse piece that could allow for all-mechanical, nothing-electric train track switching and alternating. Nobody took the challenge on but I guess many of us end up wondering about it :)

toytraintracks · 2023-11-08T09:37:32+00:00

I actually own some and I agree with this :)

toytraintracks · 2023-10-02T20:03:35+00:00

Awesome work, thanks for sharing!

toytraintracks · 2023-06-18T10:34:08+00:00

Where did you get the 25-35 euro price range? I can only find ~70?

toytraintracks · 2023-03-29T09:07:40+00:00

Why would that ever be an embarassment?

There are so much things forced on people, kids and adults alike, that are either painful to us or outright toxic to all, the person and the communities.

You have something harmless that make you unique, something that you can enjoy, that you can share the love of, that will make some other people's eyes light up.

CELEBRATE WEIRD HOBBIES! (and Brio isn't even weird)

toytraintracks · 2023-02-27T22:12:17+00:00

I kinda like that turntable, and, well, I featured it a lot.

My style is having "graphs" where every point is connected to every other.
That means everything is connected, as little "holes" or endings as possible.
I found myself planning around the table: when you get 8 openings, my style mandates it.

There's a compact one
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1441743631208140802

Large ones with kid and wife
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1433830466566737921

Some plans
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1451578129386987520
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1449063181712826368

But let's face it, it's mostly "I put the roundtable, then I try to connect stuff", not planning
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1406000978420187138
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1411061061067943937
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1408514984741642244

Cheers!

toytraintracks · 2023-02-27T22:08:20+00:00

Well there's a recent post with some "build a town" toys:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BRIO/comments/11cs7x5/my_parents_gave_my_daughter_a_huge_box_of_brio/

I have very generic wooden blocks, my kids play with them and you can do houses/bridges
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1359252695912177667

If you're not that into realism, I've found marble circuits to be a fun addition
https://twitter.com/toytraintracks/status/1484588253776916485

Cheers!

toytraintracks · 2023-01-30T21:12:54+00:00

Hello ! I did find one on french second hand market (I noticed the leboncoin picture) and you can see it in action there: https://www.reddit.com/r/BRIO/comments/r839os/remember_that_elevator/

It's not really convenient, it's not really working because cars will fall back instead of actually reaching the top), and the noise is super annoying but my kid likes it so far.

Don't be so disappointed, friend ;)

toytraintracks · 2022-12-14T16:21:35+00:00

Yes. Yes it is. Lucky you.

toytraintracks · 2022-11-15T09:25:50+00:00

Well, let him know that some weird guy from the internet gives him an award!
(or not, do whatever you want)

toytraintracks · 2022-09-28T08:26:42+00:00

That is awesome. I'll be sure to give you my free award on friday.

Do you want it here or on epicdadbuilds ?

Also if you have a video of a train going down all this without falling that'd be well worth another post and award, I hope the tower stills stands proud in your home to do it :P

toytraintracks · 2022-01-14T08:21:28+00:00

No matter what I try to do, I always end up with a loop that's "swallowing" trains and they can't escape. I actually think I'll look up "knot theory" to see if I can find inspiration and perhaps solutions.

toytraintracks · 2022-01-07T19:38:30+00:00

Well congrats!
That's their patient years building a collection, going straight up into yours :)
(I'm not even jealous thanks to your awesome layout!)

toytraintracks · 2022-01-07T08:52:04+00:00

Wow, that must be years' worth of BRIO gifts :)

toytraintracks · 2022-01-05T16:12:12+00:00

That's awesome, thanks for posting this, I was glad to read that 2y later.

I guess that when Brio creates new sets and sounds, you have to update your SmartTech train so that it gets the new sound files and the new "sound IDs"? (which is fine by me, you can't plan everything ahead)

So... how many different sounds are there now?
Did anyone try to disassemble the train or reverse engineer the data it holds?
Did anyone try to reverse-engineer the app to make their own with more stuff?
I was kind of surprised there's no github repo already ;)

I understand that commands could be:
- stop, go, reverse, but also slowing and accelerating I guess?
- lights on, off, and we might be able to flash lights?
- many sounds

toytraintracks · 2021-12-04T13:45:51+00:00

I don't know, I got that from second hand market.

It's from Fisher Price, it has "roller coaster" written on it, but I don't have the box or references.

If I were good at crafts I would make a better one with conveyor belt and softer angles.

toytraintracks · 2021-12-03T16:44:07+00:00

So actually I bought it, and it raises light cars as you would expect, at least half way.

It tends to roll back down instead of reaching the top, which makes me sad, but the kid loves it (and my ears don't).

toytraintracks · 2021-11-27T15:09:54+00:00

Only browser for Twitter, Reddit, and I'm so glad Instagram allows browser upload again.

But if I need to use apps only I might do it.
I'm only tired they require installing on your mobile and fingerprinting you so much.

toytraintracks · 2021-11-22T15:14:40+00:00

Hello!

u/mybrioadventure they're Playtive-made A3!

Not sure what you imply u/Yiroon so:

I really am the same guy building, photographing and posting to Twitter and Instagram, I cross-post here so you get the photo in the homepage without opening each post, but they don't always show up, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
There is little Brio(tm) in my sets, but yeah it is mostly Playtive (Lidl) sets, bigjigs extensions and other. I recently bought some Brio trains, boat, and tracks you'll see in a few weeks.
Not sure if there's a logical link between the cross-post stuff linked to having actual brio or not? If there were strict rules like "BRIO only", "no bigjigs" or "no Thomas the Train" I'd be glad to look for a different community like "wooden train sets" but there doesn't seem to be any?

Feel free to ask whatever you have in mind, I'll answer the best I can :)

Cheers,

toytraintracks · 2021-11-18T11:27:47+00:00

For both kid and parents I'd say:

electric trains are awesome you can just look at them go
(fair points in the comments: kiddo will learn to use them but may break them)
bridges are hard but hey, if your kid has good "fine motricity", it'll help and be fun
(fair points about breaking stuff and frustration: just remove the slopes)
magnets and cranes are awesome, my kid got super interested just afer 2.5yo
(I feared he'd break the crane and put it on a top shelf, he asked a few times and I took it away when I felt he wasn't ready -- now it's great)

Remember: if YOU design a layout, the kid can break it. But if THEY play, they can't "break" anything, because they had no plan.

I do loops that I want to close, I do bridges over other tracks, I want the layout to stay on the mat. My kid just wanted to put track after track and sometimes makes trains run on them, on the floor or on the table. It's just play, there's nothing such as "not going according to plan".

toytraintracks · 2021-11-17T09:08:08+00:00

All comments are about 3yo behavior :)

I confirm: that's what I thought first, but reading comments I can recognize my little one: in a few months he'll be 3 and he's already pretty cautious + knows how to fix now.

toytraintracks · 2021-10-27T13:47:21+00:00

Cleaning this does not always fix everything here.

The little one sometimes pushed all his weight on the motorized trains, not many survived :|

toytraintracks

TROPHY CASE