Future use of cRIO?

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by RyanN

I imagine that the discount to FIRST teams will be much greater, preferably just the cost of parts with maybe $100 in revenue. There can't be $3000 worth of stuff in a little box, my cheapo dell desktop computer was only $450 or so, and has a lot more stuff with it, unless I'm missing something really big...

True, but I bet your cheapo Dell is sold in far larger numbers than cRIOs.

For reference, a new IFI control system (at retail) presently goes for $1,146.71. That doesn't include a power distribution system (the old panel from 2005-2006 ran $84.95, per the same page) or Victors (which, it seems, will be a constant). It's my sincere hope that we won't have to shell out anything much past that to convert an older robot to the cRIO system. It won't be the most fun we've ever had with our money (excluding travel subsidies, our 2008 budget was right around $10,000), but I can definitely see the value proposition for teams to pursue it.

(Which brings about another question: Who says a couple--or trio, or quartet--of nearby teams couldn't buddy up and split the cost of a cRIO unit?)