The pinsetter is either "on" or "off", there are no other states to manage. Once it's on, it runs indefinitely: it sets the pins, clears the alley, resets the remaining pins, and repeats the cycle, all without any external control.
On mine, I do have some "feedback info" on which pins are down + a signal to "when" to score points, but this is optional as you can also write your score manually if you have no scoring computer system.
When I was in a junior league we were at a relatively recent vintage alley and once in a while it would glitch and reset the pins twice in a row. I bet the relay stayed closed too long.