  The Automated Patrol Telescope (APT) is a wide-field (5 X 5 deg.s), modified
Schmidt capable of covering large gamma-ray burst (GRB) localization regions to
produce a high rate of GRB optical emission measurements. Accounting for
factors such as bad weather and incomplete overlap of our field and large GRB
localization regions, we estimate our search will image the actual location of
20-41 BATSE GRB sources each year. Long exposures will be made for these
images, repeated for several nights, to detect delayed optical transients (OTs)
with light curves similar to those already discovered. The APT can also respond
within about 20 sec. to GRB alerts from BATSE to search for prompt emission
from GRBs. We expect to image more than 2.4 GRBs/yr. during gamma-ray emission.
More than 5.1 will be imaged/yr. within about 20 sec. of emission. The APT's 50
cm aperture is much larger than other currently operating experiments used to
search for prompt emission, and the APT is the only GRB dedicated telescope in
the Southern Hemisphere. Given the current rate of about 25% OTs per X/gamma
localization, we expect to produce a sample of about 10 OTs for detailed
follow-up observations in 1-2 years of operation.
