The Cobra fiber positioner is being developed by the California Institute of Technology (CIT) and the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) for the Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) instrument that will be installed at the Subaru Telescope on
Mauna Kea, Hawaii. PFS is a fiber fed multi-object spectrometer that uses an array of Cobra fiber positioners to rapidly
reconfigure 2394 optical fibers at the prime focus of the Subaru Telescope that are capable of positioning a fiber to
within 5μm of a specified target location. A single Cobra fiber positioner measures 7.7mm in diameter and is 115mm
tall. The Cobra fiber positioner uses two piezo-electric rotary motors to move a fiber optic anywhere in a 9.5mm
diameter patrol area. In preparation for full-scale production of 2550 Cobra positioners an Engineering Model (EM)
version was developed, built and tested to validate the design, reduce manufacturing costs, and improve system
reliability. The EM leveraged the previously developed prototype versions of the Cobra fiber positioner. The
requirements, design, assembly techniques, development testing, design qualification and performance evaluation of EM
Cobra fiber positioners are described here. Also discussed is the use of the EM build and test campaign to validate the
plans for full-scale production of 2550 Cobra fiber positioners scheduled to begin in late-2014.
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