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Custom Controls

Custom controls let you build your own widget-based controller inside Play.

This is the fastest way to create a robot-specific control screen without writing a program first.

Create a control card​

Use the Add new card in Play to create a new control card.

During setup, choose:

  • a name
  • an icon
  • a layout mode

Available layout modes include:

  • Free placement for moving widgets anywhere
  • Grid template for a more structured layout

After widgets are added, you cannot switch freely between layout systems, so it is worth choosing the layout style up front.

Edit a control card​

Press and hold a control card in Play to open card-level actions:

  • Edit
  • Share
  • Duplicate
  • Delete

Default cards such as Fighter Bot cannot be deleted.

Edit widgets​

Open a control card and tap Edit to enter widget editing mode.

From there you can:

  • add a widget with the + button
  • open widget settings with the wrench icon
  • drag a widget to move it
  • drag the bottom-right corner to resize it
  • duplicate or delete a widget

Widget types​

Common widget types include:

  • Button for press and release actions
  • Selection for choosing images, animations, emotions, or LED colors
  • Trigger for accelerometer-based actions
  • Toggle for persistent on and off states
  • Slider for values such as speed, arm position, or volume
  • Joystick for directional control
  • D-Pad for arrow-based driving
  • Indicator for robot state values such as battery or speed

Preset widgets can also save time. For Dotbot Flip, useful presets include Lifter 0...100% and D-Pad Driving.

Quick Setup​

When you configure a widget command, you can mark that setting with Add to Quick Setup.

Quick Setup is useful for parameters that you may want to adjust often during use, such as:

  • screen content
  • LED color
  • tuning values

Widget command modes​

Some widgets can run several commands together. In those cases, choose one of these modes:

  • In Steps runs commands one after another
  • Parallel runs commands at the same time

Use Parallel when the robot should do multiple things together, such as moving the arm while playing a sound.

Use In Steps when order matters, such as driving forward first and turning only after that movement finishes.

Undo, redo, and reset​

While editing a control, you can use:

  • Undo to step backward through recent changes
  • Redo to restore undone changes

These controls only apply while you stay in the current editing session.

If you want to restore a default control card to its original factory state, press and hold the card in Play and use the reset option from the card menu.