Very sorry I missed this talk. A couple of add-ins:
In the discussion of torsional stiffness with the "noodle vs. stiff", a noodle frame is generally harder to turn. While less maneuverable, it can hold position better. This is generally true though of the more vs. less traction. I would more often than not prefer a stiffer frame, but the holding position is one area where a less stiff frame can be better.
With regards to "the Bizarre collection of wheels"
. In 2008, we went with the asymmetric set up because it was a turn left game. We tried a lot of different combinations that year. In rcing terms, some were too loose, and most were too tight. Too loose was difficult to drive in the straight lines on the back side once you had acquired a piece. Too tight refers to being too slow when turning. In a turn on skid steer trying to turn a radius, the inside wheels tend to scrub more than the outside wheels. With most of the CG over the middle wheels, we had those two as high traction. We had Omnis on the inside outer wheels to reduce the latteral scrub friction. We had KOP wheels on the outside outer wheels too keep it from being too loose. Eventually we went Omnis on both fronts as the drivers skill increased during the season, and he could handle a "looser" set-up. This is often true in racing as well.
In hindsight there were plenty of robots with stiffer frames and possibly better controls that did not have to go to the extreme we did of alternate wheels. We were still utilizing skid steer controls in 2008, and a steering based control scheme would have likely worked better.
I will do a seperate post on 8wds.