Educator Vehicle (retail kit version)

The 'Educator Vehicle' or 'Driving Base' model is the official Lego standard model for the 'robot educator' exercises included in the educational version of the EV3 software. The building instructions for the education version of the Education Vehicle can be viewed or downloaded HERE (thank you, Laurens Valk!). The education and home (retail) versions are somewhat different so the educator vehicle cannot be made with the home version of the EV3 kit without some modifications and compromises. However, as you can see in these images below, the home version of the Educator vehicle, at right, looks quite similar to the education version at the left, except for the rear wheel assembly, the diameter of the driving wheels and the color of some bricks.

This page shows you how to build an 'education vehicle' with the home (retail) edition of the EV3 kit. Even if you follow these instructions there will be significant differences between the home version made with the home kit and the version made with the education kit:

In the home version you will have to replace the ultrasonic sensor with the infrared sensor, which measures distances less accurately than the ultrasonic sensor. You will have to modify your programs to take into account the differences between these two sensors. Of course, it is also possible to buy the ultrasonic sensor separately.
You will not be able to use the gyro sensor with the home version unless you purchase it separately
The wheels and tires that are included in the home kit are smaller than those in the educational kit. Specifically, the tires of the home kit have a diameter of 43.2 mm rather than the 56 mm of the tires in the education set. Since the diameter of the tires in the education kit is almost exactly 1.3 times greater than the diameter of the tires in the home kit, you can easily compensate for that difference by modifying the programs so that the large motors are made to turn 1.3 times as much as they would for the education version.
Due to smaller tires of the home version, the body of the home version of the educator vehicle will be lower (about one beam-height lower) than for the educator vehicle based on the education set. This should not be a big problem.

Here, then, is the build sequence for making a home version of the Educator Vehicle. In these instructions the output drive is confusingly shown separated from the body of the motors. Also, the instructions appear to show that 4 cables are needed when in fact only two are required for the basic vehicle.

Instructions for making the attachments for this model can be found HERE.

There is a slight asymmetry in the pair of axle pieces that connect the two motors - this is not an error. If the asymmetry bothers you then you can use two 6-length axles instead of one 6 and one 5, but the axles will then protrude slightly from the body of the robot. Or use two 5-length axles joined like this:

Important: attach the big wheels so that the side that resembles a star is facing inwards towards the body of the robot. This will cause the tire spacing to be about the same as that of the education version, and this makes it easier to write code for the robot.

Attach cables from motor port B to the left motor and from motor port C to the right motor.

Here below is a PDF version of the above instructions but I recommend that you work from the above instructions since the PDF does not include the embedded comments. Click the Pop Out button in the top right corner - you will then have the possibility of downloading the PDF if you wish.

education_vehicle_home_version.pdf

If you have the Lego Digital Designer (free software for Windows and MacOS, downloadable HERE) then you can download my building plans for the home (retail) version of the Educator Vehicle via the link at the bottom of THIS PAGE but be aware that the order of assembly is different and less practical than that given in the instructions on this page.