Related papers: Starbug fibre positioning robots: performance and …

Optics for future X-ray telescopes will be characterized by very large aperture and focal length, and will be made of lightweight materials like glass or plastic in order to keep the total mass within acceptable limits. Optics based on thin…

CUBES is a X-ray detector payload which will be installed on the KTH 3U CubeSat mission, MIST. The detector comprises cerium-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 (GAGG) scintillators read out with silicon photomultipliers through a Citiroc…

Humans possess a remarkable ability to react to unpredictable perturbations through immediate mechanical responses, which harness the visco-elastic properties of muscles to maintain balance. Inspired by this behaviour, we propose a novel…

MagAO is the new adaptive optics system with visible-light and infrared science cameras, located on the 6.5-m Magellan "Clay" telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. The instrument locks on natural guide stars (NGS) from…

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Optical Simulation Testbed (JOST) is a tabletop workbench to study aspects of wavefront sensing and control for a segmented space telescope, including both commissioning and maintenance activities. JOST…

The Star Watch extreme-precision astrometry mission (0.1 - 1.0 uas) builds on technology developed, and validated, during the SIM (Space Interferometry Mission) project. The sole science instrument is an optical interferometer with 50-cm…

The Tautenburg Exoplanet Search Telescope (TEST) is a robotic telescope system. The telescope uses a folded Schmidt Camera with a 300mm main mirror. The focal length is 940mm and it gives a 2.2 square degree field of view. Dome, mount, and…

The centimeter-scale cyborg insects have a potential advantage for application in narrow environments where humans cannot operate. To realize such tasks, researchers have developed a small printed-circuit-board (PCB) which an insect can…

This paper presents MicroRoboScope, a portable, compact, and versatile microrobotic experimentation platform designed for real-time, closed-loop control of both magnetic and acoustic microrobots. The system integrates an embedded computer,…

Teleoperation enables a user to perform dangerous tasks (e.g., work in disaster zones or in chemical plants) from a remote location. Nevertheless, common approaches often provide cumbersome and unnatural usage. In this letter, we propose…

The exponential growth of large-scale telescope arrays has boosted time-domain astronomy development but introduced operational bottlenecks, including labor-intensive observation planning, data processing, and real-time decision-making.…

In this paper, we address the problem of stable coordinated motion in multi-robot systems with limited fields of view (FOVs). These problems arise naturally for multi-robot systems that interact based on sensing, such as our case study of…

We present the second generation BLASTbus electronics. The primary purposes of this system are detector readout, attitude control, and cryogenic housekeeping, for balloon-borne telescopes. Readout of neutron transmutation doped germanium…

We present SpaceHopper, a three-legged, small-scale robot designed for future mobile exploration of asteroids and moons. The robot weighs 5.2kg and has a body size of 245mm while using space-qualifiable components. Furthermore,…

We present a conceptual design for a fiber positioning system for multi-object high-resolution spectroscopy, designed to be compatible with the upcoming large telescopes with a wide field of view. The design incorporates multiple…

This paper presents the design and control of a ballbot drivetrain that aims to achieve high agility, minimal footprint, and high payload capacity while maintaining dynamic stability. Two hardware platforms and analytical models were…

Animals such as insects have provided a rich source of inspiration for designing robots. For example, animals navigate to goals via efficient coordination of individual motor actions, and demonstrate natural solutions to problems also faced…

We present the design, fabrication, and testing of R-FLEX, a novel flexure mechanism for next-generation fiber-fed astronomical instruments. As the current Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) revolutionizes cosmology with over 56…

The 2dF (Two-degree Field) facility at the prime focus of the Anglo-Australian Telescope provides multiple object spectroscopy over a 2 degree field of view. Up to 400 target fibres can be independently positioned by a complex robot. Two…

LArGO (Liquid Argon Gamma-ray Observatory) consists of a new design for a $\gamma$-ray telescope, which exploits the idea of using a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr-TPC) as tracker-converter. Particle tracking in LAr-TPC can…