Electric Solenoid

[ThomasP]

I was trying to figure out whether or not an electric solenoid would be allowed on the robot at competition and when I looked at the rules it was rather unclear about it. Rule R41 says that we can use anything that is available to all FIRST teams or materials to produce it are available by all FIRST teams and rule R44 says that electric motors different from those in the kit are not allowed. A couple of my team members argue that the solenoid violates R44 by classifying it as an electric motor. However, when you look at the flowchart, one of the questions is "Is it a motor, solenoid, pump, or other actuator?" so it appears that FIRST makes a distinction between motors and solenoids.

So, would a solenoid be allowed or not?