  We are undertaking the first systematic infrared (IR) census of R Coronae
Borealis (RCB) stars in the Milky Way, beginning with IR light curves from the
Palomar Gattini IR (PGIR) survey. PGIR is a 30 cm $J$-band telescope with a 25
deg$^{2}$ camera that is surveying 18000 deg$^{2}$ of the northern sky
($\delta>-28^{o}$) at a cadence of 2 days. We present PGIR light curves for 922
RCB candidates selected from a mid-IR color-based catalog (Tisserand et al.
2020). Of these 922, 149 are promising RCB candidates as they show pulsations
or declines similar to RCB stars. Majority of the candidates that are not RCB
stars are either long period variables (LPVs) or RV-Tauri stars. We identify IR
color-based criteria to better distinguish between RCB stars and LPVs. As part
of a pilot spectroscopic run, we obtained NIR spectra for 26 out of the 149
promising candidates and spectroscopically confirm 11 new RCB stars. We detect
strong He I $\lambda 10830$ features in spectra of all RCB stars, likely
originating within high velocity (200-400 km-s$^{-1}$) winds in their
atmospheres. 9 of these RCB stars show $^{12}$C$^{16}$O and $^{12}$C$^{18}$O
molecular absorption features, suggesting that they are formed through a white
dwarf merger. We detect quasi-periodic pulsations in the light curves of 5 RCB
stars. The periods range between 30-125 days and likely originate from the
strange-mode instability in these stars. Our pilot run results motivate a
dedicated IR spectroscopic campaign to classify all RCB candidates.
