CES 2017: LEGO Boost - Build, Code, Play

LEGO is a brand and a toy I will never outgrow. I have a handful of LEGO's built and proudly on display on my desk right now. There's just something about creating with those tiny blocks that will never get old. In recent years, LEGO has been making a push into tech. With the release of Mindstorms and Technic, the block world is colliding with the digital world. And with the (somehow still) increasing popularity of Minecraft, LEGO is at an all time high.

The Mindstorms robot was a great first step into programmable blocks, but the price point pushed a lot of consumers out of the market. The SDK was too complex for some, and the configuration options were fairly limited. LEGO Boost is here to solve all of these problems.

LEGO Boost is a new block kit which has a companion app, allowing you to build, code, and then play with your creations. The kit comes with a few recommended builds, such as Vernie the Robot, Frankie the Cat, Guitar 4000, a rover vehicle, and a builder which will assemble other lego creations for you. You put the blocks together, then you turn to the app to program whatever you've created. The possibilities have always been endless with the LEGO Creators kit, but now the possibilities are interactive. While you don't exactly write code within the app, you create procedures and conditionals which are the building blocks of programming. Not only can you define actions for your creation, you can add personality and sound, truly bringing it to life.

LEGO Boost is slated for launch in August 2017 and is expected to retail for $159.

For more information on LEGO boost, visit https://www.lego.com/en-us/boost.