In 2002 an intensive overhaul of the REOSC telescope was begun with the goal of robotization its' operations to improve its efficiency and to save manpower. This process is now (Jan 2006) in the commissioning phase and we have already successfully carried out numerous full nights of completly robotic operations.

The telescope and the dome have had a complete overhaul of all the critical mechanical parts. Electronic controllers have been distributed on the telescope in order to maintain the original philosophy of the telescope design. The flexibility of the Magellan 7 control system allowed us to satisfy this historical requirement. The new control system has a completely robotic operation mode, e.g. the instrument is supervised locally or remotely during its routine operation and it carries out an observing program according to a schedule returning the data to the observer. The software control system substitutes the human operator in any situation, providing prompt response to weather condition changes and to possible breakdowns.

The robotization is being carried out by ATEC Robotics under the supervision of Dario Mancini. A section reporting the technical characteristics of the system is forthcoming.

Here is a link to the current observational schedules, and here is a link to the users manual.

The console used by the observer for starting robotic observations