Building Instructions

The very first robot that we usually build in a class. 

"How do you build a forklift using only gear wheels and levers without a rake"... Ok, we would admit that is a difficult question. It even sounds difficult. So let's start with something easy. A LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot. It lifts objects in the air. It uses two gear wheels that work together and then move in different directions and are placed perpendicular to each other... This sentence kind of got difficult again... Let me try again.

Follow the building instructions with these 70+ steps and you will have a very nice robot and you will learn a simple trick of how to use gears and change the directions in which they rotate. 

Building instructions for probably the simplest LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Motorcycle that you could think of. Can you think of a simpler? Build it and send it to us.

The motorcycle has one large and one medium motor. Turns are hard, but we will think of solutions for turns. There are also other motorcycles, more complex ones that you could build

• Handlebar - Chopper Motorcycle built with LEGO Mindstorms EV3

• Ninja - Sports Motorcycle built with LEGO Mindstorms EV3

The new Spy is a robot with tank treads, which uses one medium motor to turn three things at once. That is achieved by a gear system. Simultaneously the robot turns its two hands up and down, but in opposite directions and its head - left and right.

The robot moves with the help of two tank treads, attached to two Large EV3 Motors.

We love tanks. You love tanks. Everybody loves tanks. Well, not exactly - more like everybody loves machines with chain treads because they are interesting, not that common, very easy to build and could tackle a lot of obstacles.

This is a simple robot, variation of the Earl bot using treads. You can use the attachment to kick balls sideways. The robot is useful in STEM classes where students have to construct robots quickly.

Building instructions for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot that we call Space Explorer. The motors are attached in a very interesting way to the brick. Both the brick and the motors are vertical and there are not many robots like this. With its ultrasonic sensor, this robot allows you to follow, find or avoid objects. Just like an explorer. And since it is a robot why not put it in space and call it "Space Explorer".

There is one part that is not from the EV3 sets, but you can actually skip it. You don't need it. Try to find which one.

The goal of these building instructions is to build a simple LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot without wheels. You should then think of yourself how exactly to add the wheel. Which wheels would you use on the front? How are you going to build the third wheel? Here are for example a few recommendations on building the third wheel - 1, 2, 3, 4 

Later on you can expland this construction with a grabber as demosntrated here. 

This LEGO Mindstorms robot is strange. Can you guess what is strange about it?... The motors are placed in a reverse direction. One of the motors is facing "forward" while the other one is facing "backwards". This means that if you make the robot move forward with a Tank Block in the EV3-G software it will just rotate. To make the robot move forward, you will have to make one of the motors rotate forward and the other one - rotate backwards.

The goal of this robot is to teach students that motors could be placed in many different ways. It is not always the case that the two motors face the same direction. Also, it is quite fun. 

Building instructions for a LEGO robot that shoots 40 mm ping pong balls. The shooting mechanism is powered by two EV3 Large motors, while the whole mechanism is rotated by a medium motor. The robot can store up to 6 ping pong balls and has a Ultrasonic Sensor to detect targets. 

Following the Spy Bot, we have this new Spy Vehicle. Yes, yes it is using an ultrasonic sensor.

The building instructions are for a robot base that looks like a car but is not exactly a car and has a strange shape. Just like spy vehicles - a car, but not only a car and not just a car. 

It sparks. It's sparkling. Well, the goal of this LEGO Mindstorms building instruction is to spark the imagination when the base of the construction is very simple. Just two motors with the brick above them and one of the most classic ways to attach them together - with angled beams. 

The construction could use EV3 or NXT wheels, so chose wisely. As a robot chassis base, it is suitable for all kinds of extensions. An interesting thing is the motors are attached to each other with a frame which is getting very popular in the EV3 world.  

Let's go fast. Large wheels on the back. A lot of torque, small wheels on the front, good aerodynamics. Here we go.

These are building instructions for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Drag Car. 

There is a lot of physics and math involved when learning with LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robots. It is generally "difficult" to include them directly during classes because students are coming for "something funnier" and at the same time, they could be of different ages. But Inertia is a pretty common topic that is quite easy to introduce to students, especially with a robot. 
The robot moves and stops. What will happen with the cargo when the robot stops? Naturally, the cargo will continue moving and this is dangerous. For how long, what would be the energy? All these are things that could be discussed with this robot.
The robot is not completely finished because you have to finish it and decide on the wheels to be used. 

Building instructions for a LEGO EV3 steering car. We use two large motors, so that the rear wheels will be driven independently by a separate motor. For your convinience, you can use the EV3-G MyBlock for moving the Boomer.

We had a couple of minutes before starting another robot and we just came up with this robot. If you would like to build a Box Robot, but don't have enough parts this is a good construction that you could learn from. It has a frame. It has three motors. You can add attachments at the top. 

This robot is part of the category of robots called animals. After following the building instructions you would have a frog that could jump. Of course, the jump depends on the surface and the friction between the robot and the ground... quite complex physics involved. But if you program it to move forward it will try to jump and it is your job to try to make it jump higher. 

You could try to extend some of the legs, for example.

Take a motorcycle and start removing parts. You get a chopper. Like this one. It is built with LEGO Mindstorms EV3. It has one large and one medium motor. It could kind of turn, but moving forward with it is very funny. There is a "more sports like version" available at Ninja - Sports Motorcycle built with LEGO Mindstorms EV3

Currently, the motorcycle has no sensors. It's more of an exercise in construction, but if you attach sensors and think of a way to attach them send us a picture. 

Join the course A robot a "day" keeps the questions awake where we will further discuss the motorcycles, how to build them and what tasks to accomplish with them. 

You can find some demo programs here.

Building instructions for a LEGO Mindstorms Robot that cleans the landing site when landing on a different planet. Built from an EV3 set it is a perfect simple tank robot with continuous tracks for lifting and moving things. Basically cleaning.   

Piscis from Latin means fish.

Piscis is a LEGO fish robot which uses a very interesting mechanism for turning. It's tail uses a medium motor to turn left or right. On its end there are two wheels. When the robot turns its tail, those wheels navigate the movement of the robot and it turns. This results in a cool turning mechanism which resembles how fish move.

Piscis also uses a large motor to move forward and backward. The touch sensor at the front helps it sense danger and return quickly back to the reef.

Watch out for the tooth wheels, they bite!