Sort A Brick automatically assembles used building blocks into sets

The Lithuanian startup Sort A Brick has launched a system that, using industrial-grade computer vision and Artificial Intelligence (AI), is intended to automatically recognize, sort, and assemble Lego building blocks into sets. According to the company, the recognition accuracy for identifying the building blocks is 99 percent.

The system can recognize more than 25,000 different building blocks in 4,000 shapes and in 40 of the most popular colors. Recognition is achieved through cameras and an AI that has been previously trained with computer vision data of the building blocks. The accuracy of block recognition is said to be 99 percent. Currently, approximately 1,000 building blocks can be recognized per hour per system.

New sets from old bricks

The system can also compare the recognized building blocks with Lego's building block sets and assemble them into ready-to-build sets. If blocks are missing for the sets, they are automatically added to enable complete assembly of a building block set.

Sort A Brick intends to offer the reuse of old building blocks as a service. Customers can send their used bricks to Sort A Brick. There, they are cleaned, scanned, analyzed, and assembled into sets. Missing bricks are added at standard market prices. Additionally, there are links to the corresponding building instructions. However, customers need to be patient for the individual steps: The analysis of the bricks and their grouping, for example, is expected to take 2 to 3 weeks. This is in addition to the time required to procure missing parts and assemble suitable sets, which can take a few more weeks.

The costs for sorting amount to 10 euros per kilogram of submitted building blocks. Assigning usable bricks to sets costs an additional 25 euros per kilogram. Due to limited capacity, Sort A Brick currently only accepts customers on demand for a refundable fee of 20 euros.

Sort A Brick aims to address the used building block market and give old bricks new life. According to company estimates, the used building block market is large, with this secondary market estimated to be worth around one billion euros.

Sort A Brick now intends to find investors in a new funding round and raise fresh capital of 3 million euros. The company plans to speed up the system and expand AI training to recognize all building blocks ever produced in all colors. Additionally, two pilot sorting centers are to be established in Western Europe to meet the expected demand.

(olb)