[EricH]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

This comment got me thinking...
There's already been an idea posted to implement a ball drive in a similar fashion to a crab, but there are boundless other motor possibilities.
Once I have some free time I might try and run some vector calculations and see what I can come up with. Even toying around with the idea in my head I can think of a couple relatively simple ways to control the drive with 4 (or fewer) motors, in a very similar fashion to a holonomic system. The question then becomes to you gain any advantages over a holonomic system, and that's where I'd need to run a few calculations to see if this configuration could allow for any new types of movement (my suspicion is no), or more efficient movements in any direction.

Great... I guess I now know how to find engineers/engineers-in-training. As in, give them a challenge.

I've done a little thinking and it could be pretty fun to try a coaxial crab on top of the balls. Then again, why not just put it on the floor?