Verification of commercial motor performance for WEAVE at the William Herschel Telescope

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the performance of commercially available robotic axes used in the WEAVE spectroscopic facility at the William Herschel Telescope, demonstrating that they meet accuracy and reconfiguration time requirements for efficient operation.

Contribution

It provides empirical performance data on robotic axes for fiber positioning, confirming their suitability for the WEAVE instrument's specifications.

Findings

Positioning accuracy better than 8 microns

Field reconfiguration times within 60 minutes

Robotic axes meet planned performance criteria

Abstract

WEAVE is a 1000-fiber multi-object spectroscopic facility for the 4.2~m William Herschel Telescope. It will feature a double-headed pick-and-place fiber positioning robot comprising commercially available robotic axes. This paper presents results on the performance of these axes, obtained by testing a prototype system in the laboratory. Positioning accuracy is found to be better than the manufacturer's published values for the tested cases, indicating that the requirement for a maximum positioning error of 8.0~microns is achievable. Field reconfiguration times well within the planned 60 minute observation window are shown to be likely when individual axis movements are combined in an efficient way.