[Monochron]

I would recommend just buying an arduino and shield to replace the cRio. There are plenty of tutorials online for how to get one setup and outputting PWM to a digital sidecar or whatever else you might want. We did this with our 2013 robot as the cost of getting new cRio parts was a bit too steep for us at the time.

A cRio is certianly convenient, but the project can have extra educational value if you learn a new control system.