Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements

David M. Brown; Scott Case; James Gilbert; Michael Goodwin; Daniel Jacobs; Kyler Kuehn; Jon Lawrence; Nuria P F Lorente; Vijay Nichani; Will Saunders; Nick Staszac; Julia Tims

doi:10.1117/12.2055594

Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements

David M. Brown, Scott Case, James Gilbert, Michael Goodwin, Daniel Jacobs, Kyler Kuehn, Jon Lawrence, Nuria P F Lorente, Vijay Nichani, Will Saunders, Nick Staszac, Julia Tims

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Starbugs are miniature piezoelectric 'walking' robots that can be operated in parallel to position many payloads (e.g. optical fibres) across a telescope's focal plane. They consist of two concentric piezo-ceramic tubes that walk with micron step size. In addition to individual optical fibres, Starbugs have moved a payload of 0.75kg at several millimetres per second. The Australian Astronomical Observatory previously developed prototype devices and tested them in the laboratory. Now we are optimising the Starbug design for production and deployment in the TAIPAN instrument, which will be capable of configuring 300 optical fibres over a six degree field-of-view on the UK Schmidt Telescope within a few minutes. The TAIPAN instrument will demonstrate the technology and capability for MANIFEST (Many Instrument Fibre-System) proposed for the Giant Magellan Telescope. Design is addressing: connector density and voltage limitations, mechanical reliability and construction repeatability, field plate residues and scratching, metrology stability, and facilitation of improved motion in all aspects of the design for later evaluation. Here we present the new design features of the AAO TAIPAN Starbug.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	advances in optical and mechanical technologies for telescopes and instrumentation
Editors	Ramón Navarro, Colin R. Cunningham, Allison A. Barto
Place of Publication	Bellingham, Washington
Publisher	SPIE
Pages	1-10
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	9780819496195
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055594
Publication status	Published - 2014
Externally published	Yes
Event	Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation - Montreal, Canada Duration: 23 Jun 2014 → 27 Jun 2014

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of SPIE
Publisher	SPIE
Volume	9151
ISSN (Electronic)	0277-786X

Other

Other	Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Montreal
Period	23/06/14 → 27/06/14

Keywords

Fibre positioning systems
GMT
MANIFEST
Starbugs
TAIPAN
UKST

Access to Document

10.1117/12.2055594

Cite this

Brown, D. M., Case, S., Gilbert, J., Goodwin, M., Jacobs, D., Kuehn, K., Lawrence, J., Lorente, N. P. F., Nichani, V., Saunders, W., Staszac, N., & Tims, J. (2014). Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements. In R. Navarro, C. R. Cunningham, & A. A. Barto (Eds.), advances in optical and mechanical technologies for telescopes and instrumentation (pp. 1-10). Article 91511A (Proceedings of SPIE; Vol. 9151). SPIE. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055594

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title = "Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements",

abstract = "Starbugs are miniature piezoelectric 'walking' robots that can be operated in parallel to position many payloads (e.g. optical fibres) across a telescope's focal plane. They consist of two concentric piezo-ceramic tubes that walk with micron step size. In addition to individual optical fibres, Starbugs have moved a payload of 0.75kg at several millimetres per second. The Australian Astronomical Observatory previously developed prototype devices and tested them in the laboratory. Now we are optimising the Starbug design for production and deployment in the TAIPAN instrument, which will be capable of configuring 300 optical fibres over a six degree field-of-view on the UK Schmidt Telescope within a few minutes. The TAIPAN instrument will demonstrate the technology and capability for MANIFEST (Many Instrument Fibre-System) proposed for the Giant Magellan Telescope. Design is addressing: connector density and voltage limitations, mechanical reliability and construction repeatability, field plate residues and scratching, metrology stability, and facilitation of improved motion in all aspects of the design for later evaluation. Here we present the new design features of the AAO TAIPAN Starbug.",

keywords = "Fibre positioning systems, GMT, MANIFEST, Starbugs, TAIPAN, UKST",

author = "Brown, {David M.} and Scott Case and James Gilbert and Michael Goodwin and Daniel Jacobs and Kyler Kuehn and Jon Lawrence and Lorente, {Nuria P F} and Vijay Nichani and Will Saunders and Nick Staszac and Julia Tims",

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doi = "10.1117/12.2055594",

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Brown, DM, Case, S, Gilbert, J, Goodwin, M, Jacobs, D, Kuehn, K, Lawrence, J, Lorente, NPF, Nichani, V, Saunders, W, Staszac, N & Tims, J 2014, Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements. in R Navarro, CR Cunningham & AA Barto (eds), advances in optical and mechanical technologies for telescopes and instrumentation., 91511A, Proceedings of SPIE, vol. 9151, SPIE, Bellingham, Washington, pp. 1-10, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation, Montreal, Canada, 23/06/14. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055594

Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements. / Brown, David M.; Case, Scott; Gilbert, James et al.
advances in optical and mechanical technologies for telescopes and instrumentation. ed. / Ramón Navarro; Colin R. Cunningham; Allison A. Barto. Bellingham, Washington: SPIE, 2014. p. 1-10 91511A (Proceedings of SPIE; Vol. 9151).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

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Brown DM, Case S, Gilbert J, Goodwin M, Jacobs D, Kuehn K et al. Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements. In Navarro R, Cunningham CR, Barto AA, editors, advances in optical and mechanical technologies for telescopes and instrumentation. Bellingham, Washington: SPIE. 2014. p. 1-10. 91511A. (Proceedings of SPIE). doi: 10.1117/12.2055594

Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements

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