LIDAR Sensor with a motor in it

[nstephenh]

Hello, I'm a programmer from team 900. Recently we aquired a 2-dimensional LIDAR sensor from a used Neato XV-11. This sensor has a small motor built into it, making the sensor spin. As the only COTS parts with motors in them can be hard drives and fans, this is not a legal part, as clarified by FIRST when we asked here: https://frc-qa.usfirst.org/Question/...tor-ex-a-pan-t

We however, feel that although this ruling is by the rules verbatim, it is not in the spirit of the rule. The motor is an integrated part of a self contained sensor module, and does not have any mechanical effect on the surrounding components. We are not trying to get FIRST to revoke their ruling, but we are curious if any other teams are looking at using these. Any thoughts?