[Jon Stratis]

The idea of having a "standard" drive train you use year after year does have its benefits - you already have a rolling practice robot on day 1, you can get any needed parts for the drive train early and get a basic robot built quickly to start adding manipulators, and everyone knows exactly how it works.

But it also has some con's. As others have said, it probably won't be the "best" drive train for any given year - jack of all trades, master of none. But there's another huge con that you'll be depriving yourselves and future students of: The ability to design, build, and test a new drive train every year. Where's the fun in building the same thing every year? How much do you learn the third time you've built the same drive train?

We go in every year knowing the options for a drive train: 4 wheel, 6 wheel, omni, mecanum, crab, casters and traction wheels, something crazy. Over the past 4 years, we've done 6 wheel's twice, 4 wheels once, and mecanum once. And every year we have a valuable discussion with the students about what drive system to use, what the pro's and cons are, etc. Then the students get to work out the specifics of the design and build it. Yeah, it may take a little longer... but it's a valuable process.