[EricH]

Originally Posted by Osseus_Dominum

Do hou have any pictures of 8 wheel drives like this? I haven't been able to find any.

Regarding your concern about lateral traction and being pushed or spun, I don't see how this would be any more at risk. An 8 colson wheel drivetrain with center drop will only ever have 4 colsons giving traction at any one time, just like this drivetrain. So why is this more susceptible to spins?

A "proper" setup for an 8-wheel with center drop will often have the outer 4 skimming the carpet. There's considerable sideways "traction" available if you're hit--more particularly if the impact rocks you "onto" the end being hit. With omnis, you have zero sideways traction available in that situation. It's not that they aren't skimming the carpet, it's that they're omnis. They're designed to allow free sideways motion.

Of course, maybe you shouldn't just trust my word for it. Weight up a proto-frame set up for 8WD (you can just have the 8 wheels on a frame) in one of your favorite configurations--you want 150 lb or some considerable fraction of that weight. Try to turn it by pushing it, hitting it, etc. Swap wheels and repeat. Quantitative data may be harder to get than qualitative, but you should be able to get an idea of how the robot will try to act.