REM: a fully robotic telescope for GRB observations

The Rapid Eye Mount (REM) telescope is an ambitious project devoted to the prompt observations, in the optical and Near Infrared (NIR), of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) whose high energy emission is mainly detected by the Swift satellite. The system is able to immediately react to a GRB alert and perform observations, data reduction and analyses, distributing GRB counterparts in a timescale of tens of seconds. Apart from GRB observations, REM can also drive autonomous observations of a variety of targets as X-ray transients, flare stars, etc. We describe here how REM can manage all these tasks robotically, taking into account environmental and scientific parameters as seeing, visibility, target priority, etc.