If you are a hardware tinkerer, you may also want to search on-line for "line following robots" and you should find several sites with schematics on how to build your own. We can't say how well any of those bots will work with our site, since we have not tried them, but we're always eager to hear about your experiences.
What's the Botlines Studio?
Our Studio webapp is the area of the site where you make games, that is, you build line tracks that the Ozobot or other line-following robots will follow. When you save a set of tracks (or levels), we call the whole set a Game, because, well, the main purpose of all this is to play with your robot and have fun. But note that making these games can also be a highly creative and educational process. The Studio supports building complex games with logical controls and animations, so it's a type of visual programming that helps develop logical thinking. After you make a game, you can play it, share the link with friends, or submit it for inclusion in our Play section. Each game you make gets its own url: play.botlines.com#YourGameName
To access the Studio, tap or click MAKE on our site's home page, or simply point your browser to studio.botlines.com -- you may create as many games as you'd like.
To access the Studio, tap or click MAKE on our site's home page, or simply point your browser to studio.botlines.com -- you may create as many games as you'd like.
What if I just want to Play games?
You do not need to make any games yourself if you just want to start by playing with your bot on our site. Just go to our Play app -- hit PLAY on the site's home page, or go to play.botlines.com -- then choose a game to play.
How do I make the Studio and the Games take up the whole screen on my device?
All the features of our site are designed to work like a native app on your device. But, for this to work properly and not cut out part of your games, it is necessary to get rid of the browser's controls, so that both the Studio and the Games can then take up the whole screen. How you do this depends on your device:
1. On iPads and other Apple mobile devices, use Safari to go to botlines.com then tap either MAKE or PLAY, depending on which app you want. After it loads, find the "Add to Home Screen" option on the browser and click it. An icon will be added to your device's home screen, and from then on just tap it to open the Studio or the Play page.
2. On all other tablets, phones, notebooks, or desktops, use their native browser or Firefox, Chrome, or Safari to go to botlines.com (note that Internet Explorer has issues and does not work with our apps at this time). Tap or click either MAKE or PLAY, depending on which app you want. After it loads, hit the green four-arrow icon to expand the app to full-screen size. Note that you may also be able to bookmark the app to your home screen (as in Apple devices), but you probably will still need to hit the full-screen icon each time you restart the app.
1. On iPads and other Apple mobile devices, use Safari to go to botlines.com then tap either MAKE or PLAY, depending on which app you want. After it loads, find the "Add to Home Screen" option on the browser and click it. An icon will be added to your device's home screen, and from then on just tap it to open the Studio or the Play page.
2. On all other tablets, phones, notebooks, or desktops, use their native browser or Firefox, Chrome, or Safari to go to botlines.com (note that Internet Explorer has issues and does not work with our apps at this time). Tap or click either MAKE or PLAY, depending on which app you want. After it loads, hit the green four-arrow icon to expand the app to full-screen size. Note that you may also be able to bookmark the app to your home screen (as in Apple devices), but you probably will still need to hit the full-screen icon each time you restart the app.
What are the LIMITATIONS of this beta site?
Botlines is still in beta release, which means that not everything works quite the way we'd like it yet. We're working on fixing these issues and bringing you even more great features soon. In the meantime, the following problems and limitations, and possibly other issues, may occur:
1. This release is mostly targeted at the iPad. Most current features should work reasonably well on the iPad at this time. Also, everything should mostly work fine on laptops or desktops for making games (or playing them by laying your screen down on a table). On mobile Android devices, you may encounter problems, including only part of the screen showing or getting cut off.
2. If you leave the Studio without saving a game that you've been working on, all your changes will be gone when you return. This includes navigating back to your device's home screen, then tapping the Studio icon again. So, if you're working on a game that you want to keep, please be sure to save often.
3. To draw rectangles, trace them wider than tall. Otherwise the app might draw a circle instead.
4. If you save a game, you must remember its name, or write it down somewhere. You will need to type in the name to reload, share, or play the game later. We are working on future features to help you keep track of all your games without having to remember or retype their names each time.
1. This release is mostly targeted at the iPad. Most current features should work reasonably well on the iPad at this time. Also, everything should mostly work fine on laptops or desktops for making games (or playing them by laying your screen down on a table). On mobile Android devices, you may encounter problems, including only part of the screen showing or getting cut off.
2. If you leave the Studio without saving a game that you've been working on, all your changes will be gone when you return. This includes navigating back to your device's home screen, then tapping the Studio icon again. So, if you're working on a game that you want to keep, please be sure to save often.
3. To draw rectangles, trace them wider than tall. Otherwise the app might draw a circle instead.
4. If you save a game, you must remember its name, or write it down somewhere. You will need to type in the name to reload, share, or play the game later. We are working on future features to help you keep track of all your games without having to remember or retype their names each time.
May I offer suggestions?
Yes, please, by all means. We want to make this a super awesome site, and we welcome all suggestions to help us improve. Please use the form below to send us your comments. If you do not wish to share your real e-mail, just enter guest@botlines.com in the e-mail field.