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About

Roger Haynes is a pioneering engineer and astronomer whose career has been defined by advancing robotic fiber positioning for wide-field astronomy. His primary research focuses on smart focal plane technologies, particularly the development of "Starbugs"—innovative, self-motile miniature robotic devices capable of independently positioning optical fibers and other payloads on a telescope’s focal plane. Haynes’s major contribution is the conceptualization and prototyping of this technology, which enables simultaneous, reconfigurable multi-object spectroscopy, a critical capability for next-generation surveys. His most cited work, "Starbugs: focal plane fiber positioning technology" (2010, 11 citations), reports on key prototype achievements, while his earlier study "It's alive: performance and control of prototype Starbug actuators" (2006, 7 citations) details the actuator trials that brought the concept to life. Haynes also contributed to instrument concepts like AAOmicron, a near-infrared multi-object spectrograph for the Anglo Australian Telescope. Though his citation counts are modest, his work laid essential groundwork for smart focal plane systems on extremely large telescopes, influencing the design of future multi-object spectrographs and cementing his role as a key innovator in robotic astronomy instrumentation.