Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Colby Jurgenson is a key figure in astronomical instrumentation, specializing in the development of robotic systems for large-scale spectroscopic surveys. His primary research area centers on the design and precision metrology of robotic focal plane systems (FPS), most notably for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V). Jurgenson’s major contributions include engineering the robotic FPS that positions optical fibers to simultaneously capture spectra from thousands of celestial objects, enabling SDSS-V’s ambitious goal of surveying over six million stars, galaxies, and quasars. His work on coordinate system transforms and positioning metrology ensures sub-millimeter accuracy, critical for decoding the Milky Way’s history, stellar evolution, and supermassive black hole growth. With his most-cited paper (2020) accumulating 23 citations, Jurgenson’s impact is foundational to modern multi-object spectroscopy. His achievements have directly empowered SDSS-V to operate as a fully automated, high-throughput observatory, setting a new standard for robotic fiber positioning in astronomy. For students and researchers, Jurgenson’s work exemplifies how precision engineering drives transformative discoveries in astrophysics.