  The Peters Automated Infrared Imaging Telescope (PAIRITEL) is the first
meter-class telescope operating as a fully robotic IR imaging system. Dedicated
in October 2004, PAIRITEL began regular observations in mid-December 2004 as
part of a 1.5 year commissioning period. The system was designed to respond
without human intervention to new gamma-ray burst transients: this milestone
was finally reached on November 9, 2005 but the telescope had a number of
semi-automated sub-10 minute responses throughout early commissioning. When not
operating in Target of Opportunity mode, PAIRITEL performs a number of queue
scheduled transient monitoring campaigns. To achieve this level of automation,
we have developed communicating tools to connect the various sub-systems: an
intelligent queue scheduling database, run-time configurable observation
sequence software, a data reduction pipeline, and a master state machine which
monitors and controls all functions within and affecting the observatory.
