[FTC]: How VEX-y can you get?

[Billfred]

I noticed in the first part of the game manual (http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FTC/Team_Resources/Game-Manual-Part-I.pdf) that the VEX 393 motor is now a legal item for FTC robots.

As someone who was around for what was then known as FIRST Vex Challenge (and has the shirt to prove it), this got me wondering: just how close can a current FTC robot get to being a VEX robot? Obviously, you have to use the FTC control system...but it seems like everything else is in bounds.

(And the related question: Would such a robot have a prayer?)

[ehochstein]

You can build a FTC robot using pretty much any VEX part (save motors and electronics).

As for being competitive, it is really up to the team and the ideas they have when coming up with their robot design. There were FTC teams in Minnesota last year who built pretty much their entire robot out of tetrix parts (save a few 3D printed parts) and advanced to Super Regionals/Champs.