  The Arizona Robotic Telescope Network (ARTN) project is a long term effort to
develop a system of telescopes to carry out a flexible program of PI observing,
survey projects, and time domain astrophysics including monitoring, rapid
response, and transient/target-of-opportunity followup. Steward Observatory
operates and shares in several 1-3m class telescopes with quality sites and
instrumentation, largely operated in classical modes. Science programs suited
to these telescopes are limited by scheduling flexibility and people-power of
available observers. Our goal is to adapt these facilities for multiple
co-existing queued programs, interrupt capability, remote/robotic operation,
and delivery of reduced data. In the long term, planning for the LSST era, we
envision an automated system coordinating across multiple telescopes and sites,
where alerts can trigger followup, classification, and triggering of further
observations if required, such as followup imaging that can trigger
spectroscopy. We are updating telescope control systems and software to
implement this system in stages, beginning with the Kuiper 61'' and Vatican
Observatory 1.8-m telescopes. The Kuiper 61'' and its Mont4K camera can now be
controlled and queue-scheduled by the RTS2 observatory control software, and
operated from a remote room at Steward. We discuss science and technical
requirements for ARTN, and some of the challenges in adapting heterogenous
legacy facilities, scheduling, data pipelines, and maintaining capabilities for
a diverse user base.
