LEGO has announced a huge update to its bricks, which the company is calling "one of the most significant evolutions" in 50 years.

The new sensor-packed Smart Play Brick will land this spring as part of a special Star Wars collection. The update adds interactive lights and sound to the Lego experience—including the minifigs.

The Smart Brick looks very similar to a normal 2x4 Lego brick, but it contains a custom Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip which is smaller than one of the studs on the brick itself. It’s joined by an accelerometer and a copper coil, and Lego has created its own Play Engine and Neighbor Position Measurement (NPM) system.

Developed by the Lego Group’s Creative Play Lab, the Lego Smart Play system will make sounds and activate lights based on player movements and builds. Lego says the new platform "features more than twenty patented world-firsts," including a new custom-made chip that's smaller than a standard Lego connector stud.