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About

Julia Tims is a key figure in the development of next-generation robotic fiber positioning systems for large optical telescopes. Her research centers on precision instrumentation for multi-object spectroscopy, with a major focus on the Starbug technology—miniature piezoelectric walking robots that can position optical fibers across a telescope’s focal plane with micron-level accuracy. Tims’s most cited work, “TAIPAN: optical spectroscopy with StarBugs” (2014, 23 citations), details the design of a spectroscopic instrument for the UK Schmidt Telescope that not only enables the TAIPAN survey but also serves as a critical prototype for the MANIFEST system. Her contributions to the MANIFEST prototyping design study (2016, 12 citations) outline how these Starbug robots will provide the Giant Magellan Telescope with unprecedented multiplex gains and larger fields of view, coupling to instruments like GMACS and G-CLEF. Additionally, her work on Starbug performance and reliability enhancements (2014, 9 citations) demonstrates her deep technical expertise in optimizing these robotic positioners for long-term astronomical operations. Tims’s innovations are foundational to the future of massively multiplexed spectroscopy.