TAIPAN instrument fibre positioner and Starbug robots: engineering overview

Nicholas F. Staszak; Jon Lawrence; David M. Brown; Rebecca Brown; Ross Zhelem; Michael Goodwin; Kyler Kuehn; Nuria P. F. Lorente; Vijay Nichani; Lew Waller; Scott Case; Robert Content; Andrew M. Hopkins; Urs Klauser; Naveen Pai; Rolf Mueller; Slavko Mali; Minh V. Vuong

doi:10.1117/12.2233583

22 July 2016 TAIPAN instrument fibre positioner and Starbug robots: engineering overview

Nicholas F. Staszak, Jon Lawrence, David M. Brown, Rebecca Brown, Ross Zhelem, Michael Goodwin, Kyler Kuehn, Nuria P. F. Lorente, Vijay Nichani, Lew Waller, Scott Case, Robert Content, Andrew M. Hopkins, Urs Klauser, Naveen Pai, Rolf Mueller, Slavko Mali, Minh V. Vuong

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9912, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation II; 99121W (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2233583
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

TAIPAN will conduct a stellar and galaxy survey of the Southern sky. The TAIPAN positioner is being developed as a prototype for the MANIFEST instrument on the GMT. The design for TAIPAN incorporates 150 optical fibres (with an upgrade path to 300) situated within independently controlled robotic positioners known as Starbugs. Starbugs allow precise parallel positioning of individual fibres, thus significantly reducing instrument configuration time and increasing the amount of observing time. Presented is an engineering overview of the UKST upgrade of the completely new Instrument Spider Assembly utilized to support the Starbug Fibre Positioning Robot and current status of the Starbug itself.

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Nicholas F. Staszak, Jon Lawrence, David M. Brown, Rebecca Brown, Ross Zhelem, Michael Goodwin, Kyler Kuehn, Nuria P. F. Lorente, Vijay Nichani, Lew Waller, Scott Case, Robert Content, Andrew M. Hopkins, Urs Klauser, Naveen Pai, Rolf Mueller, Slavko Mali, and Minh V. Vuong "TAIPAN instrument fibre positioner and Starbug robots: engineering overview", Proc. SPIE 9912, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation II, 99121W (22 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2233583

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