Nintendo Labo turns homemade models into interactive toys 'like cardboard Lego'

Nintendo's ingenious upcoming release for its Switch console uses augmented reality to make working cars, pianos and full-body robot suits – teaching coding and engineering principles through play Wed 17 Jan 2018 17.10 EST Last modified on Wed 17 Jan 2018 17.42 EST Nintendo has introduced a new product for its Switch games console: Nintendo Labo, an innovative augmented-reality game that turns cardboard models into fully functioning toys. Inside the Nintendo Labo box are 25 sheets of thick, brown, branded cardboard, and a little cartridge that pops into a Nintendo Switch console. Following Lego-like instructions on the Switch screen, you punch out the cardboard pieces and assemble them into contraptions of varying complexity. The first project, which takes maybe 15 minutes, is a simple little bug-like radio-controlled car; slot the Joy-Con controllers into its cardboard sides, pull up the controls on the Switch's screen, and the vibrations send it juddering across a flat surface with surprising speed. The more complex constructions are a telescopic fishing rod with a working reel, attached to a base with elastic bands and string for realistic tension; a cardboard model of a piano with springy keys; an abstract motorbike, with handles and a pedal; a little house.