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arXiv · 1511.00202

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

James Gilbert·Gavin Dalton·Ian Lewis
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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.

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James Gilbert, Gavin Dalton, Ian Lewis. 2015-11-01. Verification of commercial motor performance for WEAVE at the William Herschel Telescope. https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.00202

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