I'm the guy behind Brixo, the electric bricks on r/geek yesterday. AMA

It looks like your block rely heavily on the Lego design and function.

How do you intend to work with Lego and the patents they hold regarding the design and function of Lego blocks? Are you looking into a partnership with the company or are you looking to pay them for a license?

Those patents are expired. Manufacturing good lego parts is difficult.

Yup. Lego has crazy low tolerances for their materials and pieces.

Which is necessary since (a) every brick made must fit every other brick made and (b) you don't want a noticeable skew after you stack 30, 40 bricks on top of one another.

And the more amazing part is that every brick made today fits every brick made 30 years ago

Damn right.

Unlike sloppy megablocks builds that lets all kinds of defects through. That's why the price range is so vast.

Megablocks quality has increased exponentially in the past few years. I'm actually seriously impressed by their new quality.

My thought exactly, but.. still far away from Lego. Lego bricks always have the same feeling and same building experience (not too hard/weak). We will work hard to achieve similar experience. Lucky for us the chrome coating upgrades the way the bricks feel in your hands and the building is more smooth.

You're right. Fortunately for us we not making strictly plastic bricks - the chrome coating makes a completely different building experience (I might add more forgiving in terms of plastic feel). In any case, we invest heavily on getting a perfect building experience (we know how Lego competitors usually fails and feel cheap).

Lego design - yes for compatibility. Fortunately, their patent expired so not need for any licensing. We would love to combine forces with LEGO (of course).

So... do you think they'll buy you out? They really should.

We really love and appreciate Lego.

I don't suppose any of your designs are unique enough to be patented?

They are. Well not the designs (that's a different patent) but the system of building blocks with its unique characteristics.

How high is the voltage, and would it shock you to put your fingers in between 2 connection blocks?

9V, like a regular battery. And nope, completely harmless :) You can even lick it, if you're into that

9V will sting a little if you lick across the terminals, as I've learned the hard way in Uni.

Has education slipped this far? I was licking 9v batteries in daycare. It wasn't a very good daycare.

We only had AAs back then, hard to get across the terminals that way.

Just stick the whole battery in your mouth with the terminals on your cheeks. Fool proof.

Solid plan...

More like - Darwin at its best ;-)

Can you give us some more technical details? How is the current bridging the gaps between the pieces on the base plate? How does it avoid shorting out when you place those last pieces?

Connector pieces have two elastic arms (chrome coated of course) on both long sides that protrude towards the next brick. When two bricks are placed together the spring arm are pressed and electric contact is made. At the same time, the bricks are narrower than regular lego bricks so there is no contact between nearby bricks (its actually narrower than needed to be clearly seen and understood by the user). In addition to all that we have short circuit protection embedded into the battery brick. It will constantly limit the current, beep if short circuit and eventually cut the power temporarily if needed. Because, whatever can go wrong (or done wrong) will go wrong. We don't trust the user to be cautious.

How does it feel to have something you made get completely discredited as "fake" at first? :p That other thread was hilarious with everyone trying to play /r/iamverysmart detective.

Just gives me more motivation to push it further.

What is your favorite type of pizza?

Yes.

I know Lego stopped making chromed bricks because the thickness of the chrome coating necessitated a second set of slightly smaller moulds to maintain clutch power, and this combined with the cost of using a third-party chroming company made them very expensive.

How does the clutch power of Brixo compare to Lego, and how do you keep it consistent?

As you rightfully stated we need smaller molds to compensate for the chrome coating. The clutch power can be adjusted and after many trials (and errors!) we found the perfect coating thickness that made it feel smooth and firm at the same time. Its much smoother than Lego but feels strong enough. Consistency is about controlling the thickness of coating. We use electroplating which is a well controlled and repeatable process.

Follow up- might you consider making sets without the electronic brick for AFOLs who would want chromed bricks?

Sure. Most of the time my kids love Brixo blocks just for their shine.

As a future teacher, these things are have insane potential in my mind.. not enough kids have any interest in science, but most kids I meet enjoy Legos, at least a little bit. Now, I don't remember much from middle school electricity class, but if we can use Legos to start introducing things like circuits and switches, that's something a child can pick up as early as age 4 and take with them throughout their school years and hopefully beyond. By the time I was introduced to electric circuits, I was like 15 and the whole concept seemed too technical for me. I'd have to go read through books, and buy all the tools, and learn everything from scratch. This was at a time when my priority was to get out of school and play World of Warcraft. I am super excited at the prospect of a child's toy that introduces electricity in a safe way.

Will these be affordable for parents and early childhood educators? Are they easily breakable, or will they hold up to a 3-4 year old? Are they dangerous if, say, placed in a mouth? Also, are they something that a person with no electricity knowledge can purchase and use effectively?

Affordable - yes. Kickstarter prices starting at $15, though will be around $35 for the normal package. Around $50 later on in retail. Breakable - No. Like LEGO bricks with highly durable chrome coating (imaging your chrome coated kitchen tap for durability) 3-4 age - not sure. Because of the small pieces. More like 6+. Electricity is not an issue - like touching a regular 9V battery.

Awesome! Yea 3-4 isn't even recommended for regular Legos now that I think about it. These seem so awesome.. please send some back in time to me as a child, thanks.

Never too late..

That quantum levitation video is the coolest thing I've ever seen. How long do you think it will be until that technology is used for transportation?

Thanks :-) Hopefully 10-15 we'll see some applications.

Weeks, months, years?

Maybe 20.

Years. 😢

Why did the brick light up without any connection in your hand?

Not OP, but I'm pretty sure his hand had a small amount of charge built up from handling the circuitry. LED lights will do this with a small static charge as well

Nope. The LED did not light before I connected it to the circuit. Its just the actual LEDs you are seeing (two yellowish LEDs).

What? No. Static charge can reach several kV and would probably destroy an unprotected LED. The ESD protection would quickly (somewhere in the μs range) drop the voltage and what’s left would never be enough to power even a weak LED for more than a ms.

You're right. We have resistors inside the LED to protect against power surges.

You did a TED about quantum levitation, and develop Lego concept/prototype designs in your spare time? My question: Are you hiring? :D Very cool stuff. Really enjoyed your TED.

Thanks. Not hiring.. recruiting.. ;-)

What level of complexity do you think is possible with your bricks ? Is it comparable to Minecraft's redstone system ?

Btw that's a really cool project for kids who want to learn about science !

Thanks, that was the initial motivation. Complexity is almost infinite and in several levels - Mechanically - you could build 3D structures having multiple circuit branches (parallel & in-series). Electronically - combine electric components like transistors, capacitors for teaching electronics.

how much will they cost?

Starting at $15 on Kickstarter, though will be around $35 for the normal package. Around $50 later on in retail.

Pb free ?

Of course.

how much in a package?

Starter kit will have 36 blocks, Standard kit - 60 & Makers - 106.

What is the craziest thing you have ever built/tested with Brixo?

The most complex was the crane - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0F71Dpoj20 The most bizarre were the models we build for the KS campaign - Minecraft dog with rotating head and a rotating arrow head.

How soon do you think you will be able to sell these on a large scale?

Do you think you'll ever make a deal with LEGO or something similar so that they can sell your bricks?

Hopefully real soon! We're planning on launching a Kickstarter campaign in a few weeks so we can manufacture and sell them on a REALLY large scale. As for Lego, that could be cool but we don't really see it.

We're planning on launching a Kickstarter campaign in a few weeks so we can manufacture and sell them on a REALLY large scale.

That's not really a plan though.

Pretending you had the money already, do you know that Brixo can be manufactured on a large scale and whether you can do so in a cost effective way that stays close enough to the same tolerances that Lego have?

We definitely do. We already closed deals with manufacturers and had several prototypes to test tolerances and quality of coating.

Awesome man! This has sooo much potential in engineering and entertainment!

👍

Can you explain how they work in layman's terms? Like how are the connections made or how is the circuit created without a short?

edit: what do you mean by proximity? is that a few cm or mm distance? does it need to have the silver "circuit" blocks or are those just for show?

The regular (chrome) bricks (4x1) act as conductors only. They are "regular" plastic bricks coated completely with chrome. Each have two small elastic arms that stick from the sides and touch adjacent bricks. The bricks are also a bit thinner to avoid short circuiting between side by side bricks. We have several switch bricks that act as regular switches - open / close the circuit. Proximity is one of them. It closes the circuit when a magnet is nearby (few cm, depending on the magnet). We will supply a magnet brick together with the Proximity switch.

Forget layman's terms, we've got a couple of skeptical electrical engineers here who'd like to see some details. Are you suggesting that there's inductive coupling between all of the adjacent bricks? Wouldn't that be very lossy and limit the number of usable orientations?

Nope. Definitely not inductive coupling. The reason people are coating with chrome is because it is a noble metal - no oxidation layer, which keeps the contact Ohmic and excellent.

Why isn't OP answering any questions?

Sorry, had a family thing, didin't realize how quick you guys are, I'm here now!

Reddit expects AMAs to have people man them like they are actually chatting to the person. Then the AMA OP leaves after an hour or more. INSTANT GRATIFICATION!

Just figuring out how all this works with some help... with that said... INSTANT GRATIFICATION! WOOHOO!

[deleted]

OR!!! maybe he just got busy. Not everybody is a corporate shill looking to cash in on free publicity dude.

Thanks Girtworthy : )

Favourite Star Wars? ;D

Return of the Jedi, favorite character is Yoda

Did anyone ask about your favorite character?

Catty, you are!

Ask me why... Hint (Quantum Locking)

Why is Yoda your favorite character?

You must unlearn what you have learned.. Do or do not there is no try. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4yd2W50No

:-))

What'll the price be like? I imagine if its cheap enough it can be used as a tool to get children into electronics if it's safe enough.

We're going to launch a Kickstarter in a bit where it's going to start with very small packages at $15, normal packages at $35. Retail will be about $50

what was the hardest part of the process behind Brixo, from technology to legal issues?

I believe the hardest part is still ahead - marketing and selling. But so far the most difficult challenge was the smart switches - Brixo includes light/sound/proximity bricks which are smart switches. They connect/disconnect the circuit they are connected to. The major challenge was finding a way to disconnect the switch without killing its power supply (other wise it will not wake up when needed). Problem was solved after much work and out of the box thinking :-)

Hey everyone, I had a great time (my fingers are on fire 🔥 in spite of the slow start) and I gotta go soon. If you have more questions email me at [email protected]

Lego is known for making high quality toys while the rest of the toy industry seems to be racing to the bottom. Will these Brixo blocks have the same kind of quality and durability? It seems like the connection "nubs" or whatever they are might wear out over time. Also, chrome can wear or flake off. What are you doing to address these issues and what kind of wear and tear have you tested for?

You're right. We certainly look up to Lego and their product quality. The bricks are make of ABS plastic (like Lego) hard coated with chrome. The coating is highly durable (have you see any peeling in your shower head? or tap?). Initial testings showed that the coating holds for hundreds of times. We will continue to do extensive testing once we complete our basic manufacturing capabilities (after the KS campaign).

How will you be handling quality control? Many Lego like blocks suck. Will yours be better? I'm concerned electrical connections will be hard to maintain.

Yes, we plan on being as good as Lego. The chrome coating differentiate our product and gives it a completely different feel and a very unique and satisfying one. Not so much. We do not need a very good electric contact (just good). Even the slightest touch between two adjacent bricks will give an ohmic contact (~1Ohm) which is enough to make Brixo work well. Most of the times the contact are perfect.

Where are you based?

Israel & US.

Where OP at, tho?

Right here :)

Have you had any trouble with the Lego people as far as patents go?

Don't expect to. Lego's patents on the basic shape expired several years ago.

Can't imagine a child or many adults for that matter that wouldn't find this extremely entertaining. Do you have plans to market and sell these? they are very similar to Lego's, is there any concerns about lawsuits?

We do. have plans to sell these kits at every retail and toy store. I am hopeful that our legal people did their job well. Lego's basic patents expired several years ago. Hopefully, we will live alongside Lego to give a more complete experience and not fight them.

Will you be making these for those mini Lego pieces?

You mean flat pieces? Not in the first generation. We still haven't been able to find a proper solution to electrically connect adjacent flat pieces. But we are working on that.

What are some practical applications of quantum levitation / locking besides the awe-inspiring demonstrations at science fairs?

Sorted by seriousness: 1. Transportation (people, cargo) 2. Precise control & manipulation (satellites in space, tractor beam..) 3. Display show (culinary, advertising, etc..)

Could you tell me more about its possible culinary applications?

Let the images speak - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-SC1X2ggFo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-SC1X2ggFo

What kind of music do you like to listen to?

Alternative, singer-songwriter folk, prog rock & dire-straits.

Reddit themed kit with enough blocks to make 1 horse sized robo duck, or 100 duck sized robo horses, please? I only mention robo so I can stick those cool LED blocks in for their eyes.

mmm.... No. Yes.

So you mention BLE. Will the chip (there's gotta be a chip somewhere) be housed with the battery? I assume that large black block (that probably houses a 9v) also holds any required chips.

Can the block be disassembled? How long does your power last? Does it need to be recharged or replaced?

BLE chip will sit inside the battery brick (9V). The block cannot be disassembled (just opened for battery replacement). Power lasts according to usage. Regular usage will consume no more than 100mAmp and white regular Alkaline 9V battery (>500mAh) it will last about 5 hours.

What microcontrollers are you currently using? Which ones have you experimented with in the past?

Smart switches - PIC16F1823-I/ML Battery - PIC16F1827-I/MV BLE - considering using HF-BL100-CU (current prototype)

I think these bricks are pretty cool. Are you pitching them to lego?

Nope.

What do other fellow startup people think of Brixo?

This is like something they should be playing with when they're tired of developing their own startups.

That's a great startup :-)

Proof?

you got it.

Do you plan on answering any questions, or just plugging your product?

Submitted an hour ago but no responses. He also submitted this "AMA" to /r/geek yesterday which has been removed.

edit: I stand corrected, OP is here now

New to this, my bad!

Welcome, Reddit is just populated by a lot of skeptics

Thanks, and nothing wrong with that : )

Besides investment, what do you need help with? Building a community of designs would be really cool.

How are you going to protect yourself from the Lego overlord?

Also, proof?

I think the major thing we need is a large and responsive community. One of the great things about Lego is its worldwide fans (AFOL, etc.). We are already working on building a platform for designs and ideas that will use Brixo. That is also the reason we decided on going first to Kickstarter (and not seek investment and straight to retail). By having a dedicated fan base we can build strong and health brand & product.

Do you have any fear that you're totally going to get sued by Lego? I mean, they're definitely on reddit. They bitch every time you say Legos. As far as I can tell they're just metal legos, which seems far less fun than just using a wire...

Legos. Legos. Legos. Sorry, couldn't help it. You shouldn't say Brixos as well. Maybe less fun (arguable..) but much more educational and less intrusive to the building.

Could you offer some proof besides a link to your website?

Check our FB page (https://www.facebook.com/brixotoys/) as well as our twitter account (@brixotoys) and finally my personal youtube page (https://www.youtube.com/user/boazal).

Why should I buy your product if you don't even answer questions in your own AMA? It's been two hours, OP...

Got to it finally...