Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and reliability enhancements

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development and optimization of Starbug fibre positioning robots for astronomical telescopes, focusing on performance, reliability, and design improvements to enable rapid configuration of optical fibers.

Contribution

It introduces new design enhancements for Starbug robots, improving reliability, mechanical stability, and deployment efficiency for large-scale astronomical instruments.

Findings

Successful optimization of Starbug design for production

Enhanced mechanical reliability and repeatability

Capability to configure 300 fibers in minutes

Abstract

Starbugs are miniature piezoelectric walking robots that can be operated in parallel to position many payloads like optical fibers across a telescopes focal plane. They consist of two concentric piezoelectric ceramic tubes that walk with micron step size. In addition to individual optical fibers, Starbugs have moved a payload of 0.75kg at several millimeters per second. The Australian Astronomical Observatory previously developed prototype devices and tested them in the laboratory. Now we are optimizing the Starbug design for production and deployment in the TAIPAN instrument, which will be capable of configuring 300 optical fibers 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 Fiber-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.