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Hi Quinn,
Thought it best to start a new thread to discuss your idea.
First up (and don't take this as criticism), be careful biting off too much initially. I know that's why I ended up dropping out from the group. You may want to either aim for some smaller projects first, or ensure that whatever you build can be done in smaller stages which themselves are interesting.
Having said that, I guess the first thing to work out about the larger project is what you are aiming for. You say it will feature either tracks or wheels, however those two architectures are very different, so you will have to decide that before anything else. What do you want the robot to DO? What problem do you want it to solve? What challenge would you like to explore with it?
You will then have to start thinking about what you will build it from. Modified existing toy? Pre-designed kit? Lego? Meccano? Plastics? Metal section? Wood? Ask yourself what skills do you already have with respect to building stuff? How much can/will you spend? (note, that given your statement about it being 3 to 4 feet tall (AHH! metric please! errr... about 1 metre tall) you will probably need to look at wood/metal section for the skeleton for something that size).
Obviously tracks would be easier (there are some tracked-vehicle kits out there so you can get the basic components easily enough and them adjust to the form you actually want), however tracked vehicles chew up a fair bit of power and don't turn all that neatly on carpets. Bipeds are now finally starting to take off, and you can even buy a simple one for $100 or so and then hack that if you wish (RoboSapien and RoboSapien V2), however if you wish to build form the ground up there are also several servo-based kits available now (although pricey), and building your own from scratch is no longer impossible. However it will probably not be able to lift/do too much else, and your looking at a VERY long project if you starting from the group up.
Have you considered the 'segway' style robots? I find these quite interesting, and people have even built basic models from LEGO Mindstorms! You could view them as featuring some of the same issues as biped (dynamic balance) with much simpler mechanics, lower power consumption, and capable of bearing larger weights. I haven't seen too much PRACTICAL use made of them as yet however, but I know the guys who did the RoboSapiens are soon to release a robot with arms that has this style of locomotion.
You may be interested in this: http://www.msl.ri.cmu.edu/projects/ballbot/ - probably NOT what your after, but the idea of a robot balancing on a ball is interesting.
-Linus
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