Regarding the software, you are allowed to use either the Education version or the Retail version.  They are similar but with some functionality differences.  I have found FLL teams successful with either since the differences either have no impact on FLL teams or have work-arounds.  Read on for details.

Until quite recently, there used to be licensing issues (team use vs single use, cost, etc.) with both versions that are no longer applicable now that both have free downloads of the software. 

Of no impact to most teams, the Education version has a special Teacher option with a content editor that allows them to embed multimedia for building educational materials for students.  It also has 48 step-by-step tutorials and a logging feature that can be useful in some scenarios.  The Retail version has robot build instructions for models that are pretty cool but impractical for FLL.

Most impacting is the sensor differences that Shari mentioned.  The Retail version's programming folder on the EV3 programming pallet does not have a gyro sensor or ultrasonic sensor (it comes with an infrared sensor instead).  Programs are generally compatible between the Retail and Education versions otherwise.  You can download the sensor blocks from the following links. 


Gyro Sensor Block

Ultrasonic Sensor Block

These instructions may be helpful for installing the sensor blocks (repeat for ultrasonic block):

http://robotsquare.com/2014/06/25/tutorial-gyro-ultrasonic-sensor-ev3-home-edition/

If this doesn't answer your question, check the listserv archive.  There has been a lot of discussion on this over the years.  Or, the difference between the sets is spelled out pretty well from a non-FLL perspective (though a little out of date) at the following sites:

http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/1819/what-is-different-between-the-ev3-home-and-educational-sets
http://www.techagekids.com/2013/06/lego-mindstorms-ev3-education-vs-home.html

Good luck!


Jeff Beima

On Sep 16, 2017 11:52 AM, "Lord Of The Bricks" <lordofthebricksrobotics@gmail.com> wrote:

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It doesn't matter which version you use.  The education version comes with more accessories, but you can purchase what you need if it doesn't come in your set.  Items purchased must be Lego branded, and may not be simply Lego compatible.

On Sat, Sep 16, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Rajesh Shah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Are we suppose to use Mindstorms EV3 education edition or home edition for FLL challenge?. I noticed home edition does not have "gyro sensor" block.

Below are the two link I found to download different versions -


Home Edition -


Rajesh Shah
Coach Team  #31778 (Raining Robots)

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