Abstract
Large surveys are discovering thousands of objects which require further characterization at high angular resolution. The demands on space-based observatories and large telescopes with AO systems leave them generally unavailable for large high angular resolution surveys. To address this gap, we have developed Robo-AO, the first robotic laser AO system, as an economical and efficient imaging instrument for 1-3 m class telescopes. Observations of over 200 stellar objects per night have routinely been performed, with target-to-target observation overheads of less than 1.5 minutes. Scientific programs of several thousands of targets can be executed in mere weeks, and Robo-AO has already completed the three largest AO surveys to date.
