Networks of autonomous, robotic-response telescopes already exist. The best known example is the informal world-wide network of ground-based telescopes that promptly respond to real time Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) alerts generated by High-Energy satellites and distributed by the GRB Coordinates Network. Here, the network operates in an “open loop” manner. The network telescopes receive the alert and respond, but all the real time information flows in one direction. Effective deployment of thinking technology in robotic telescope systems will require the capability to operate in a “closed loop” manner.

An example of a first generation robotic telescope network operating as a closed loop system is provided by the RAPTOR (RAPid Telescopes for Optical Response) system at Los Alamos National Laboratory. RAPTOR links together eleven small telescopes (eight wide-field monitoring and three narrow-field response telescopes) located at two spatially separated sites to act as an autonomous system capable of finding optical transients and making follow-up observations in real time.