[Alan Anderson]

If you want to use a separate control system, you would have to have a way to switch out the legal one and switch in the "simple" one. That sounds like a lot of trouble, and unless you had a huge many-pole switch it would probably take longer to change between them than to just boot the roboRIO. But I don't think I understand the problem. Is your robot out of starting configuration when you leave the pit?

As for having to retract stuff at the end of a match, one solution I have seen is to have a mechanical connection to the motor shaft that can be driven by an external crank or cordless electric drill.