Adrian, this is one thing that has been discussed at length, particularly for the HW's.
You can't tend to buy anything more than 2S lipo's with a hard case as they are designed for RC cars as you know. In the RC car world, there is a stipulation to use hard case lipo's due to the amount of crashes in a race and the amount of damage a normal battery takes. Because RC cars are so readily available and popular you get all sorts of people using them who do not have a clue or want to know how to look after packs and the hard case helps with all that.
On that note, I think that all HW lipo's should be secured in some form of hard case. Nothing heavy and expensive, even just a plastic padded box so that if it ends up rattling around inside it can't rub on things or get punctured etc. I believe that this will stop the majority of issues and damage.

Another concern that people have had is the constant shocks in a robot and the possible damage that might cause even with the lipo in a padded box. Luckily this isn't an issue at all (it is an issue for Hawkers etc). In RC heli's we are changing directions at over 20G at times, hundreds of times a flight for hundreds of flights and it has never caused an issue. Even in severe crashes when the lipo is badly bent the chemistry is still safe.

I know people are asking for all sorts of extra tests, sadly I only have a limited supply of lipo's that I can donate to the cause. The large packs I am donating cost me about £100 a pack, so I will only be testing things that are completely relavent. If I have enough, I will do a test to show what happens when you taco a pack (bend it like a taco ).