Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Jon Shover is an instrumental figure in the engineering and implementation of next-generation astronomical instrumentation, with a primary focus on robotic fiber positioning systems for large-scale spectroscopic surveys. His most significant contributions center on the development of the robotic Focal Plane System (FPS) for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V), a monumental all-sky survey designed to decode the history of the Milky Way, probe stellar interiors, investigate planetary system origins, and track supermassive black hole growth. Shover’s work on the FPS, detailed in his highly cited 2020 paper (23 citations), enables the precise, automated placement of over 500 optical fibers across the telescope’s focal plane, dramatically increasing survey efficiency. He further advanced this technology through his metrology research (7 citations), developing methods to verify and calibrate robot positioning accuracy. These contributions are critical to SDSS-V’s ability to observe more than six million celestial objects, making Shover’s engineering achievements foundational to one of astronomy’s most ambitious projects. His work exemplifies how precision robotics can transform observational capabilities, directly enabling groundbreaking discoveries in galactic archaeology, stellar astrophysics, and cosmology.