[,4lex S.]

For this to be successful, ensure you are smart about it. Develop what you think to be a solid all around drivetrain, but make it highly adaptable to whatever changes might be made.

So basically, what should happen assuming you have done the research, is a simple, robust 6-8WD system that will serve you well with a few simple modifications 95% of the time. Don't write this option off as too easy, I once made that mistake. Optimizing a 6-8WD is a very tough and entertaining challenge that I am sure could keep my engineering department at work pretty busy for a couple weeks.

My team agreed to do a simple skid steer in 2009, and we did. It worked well, but because we decided to do a wide robot base, it was a lot better than the original design would have been for Lunacy. If you are really enthused about an adaptable design, you could create an iAssembly in inventor that changes drastically to reflect different parameters you choose on creation (I have yet to try this, so I don't know how hard it is).