The Experiment Orchestration System (EOS)

Foundation for laboratory automation

EOS is a software framework and runtime for laboratory automation, designed to serve as the foundation for one or more automated or self-driving labs (SDLs).

Core

• Plugin system for defining labs, devices, tasks, experiments, and optimizers
• Package system for sharing and reusing automation code
• Validation of experiments, parameters, and configurations at load time and runtime

Execution & Scheduling

• Central orchestrator that coordinates devices and experiments across multiple computers
• Intelligent task scheduling with dynamic device and resource allocation
• Scheduling simulation for testing strategies offline without hardware

Optimization

• Built-in Bayesian optimization for experiment campaigns, with single and multi-objective support
• Hybrid AI-Bayesian optimizer that combines Bayesian optimization with LLM reasoning

Interfaces

• Web UI with visual experiment editor, real-time monitoring, device inspector, and file browser
• REST API with OpenAPI documentation
• MCP server for connecting AI assistants
• SiLA 2 instrument protocol integration

Documentation is available at https://unc-robotics.github.io/eos/.

Installation

EOS should be installed on a central laboratory computer that is easily accessible.

EOS requires PostgreSQL and S3-compatible object storage (SeaweedFS by default) for data and file storage. These can be run with Docker Compose.

1. Install uv

   • Linux/Mac

     curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

   • Windows

     powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

2. Install EOS

   git clone https://github.com/UNC-Robotics/eos
   cd eos
   uv venv
   source .venv/bin/activate
   uv sync --all-groups

3. Configure EOS

   cp .env.example .env
   cp config.example.yml config.yml

   Edit both .env and config.yml and provide values for missing fields

4. Launch External Services

   docker compose up -d

5. Start EOS

   eos start

6. Install the Web UI

   cd web_ui
   npm install

7. Configure the Web UI

   cp .env.example .env
   # Edit .env and provide values

8. Start the Web UI (in a new terminal)

   eos ui

Citation

If you use EOS for your work, please cite:

@inproceedings{Angelopoulos2025_EOS,
  title = {The {{Experiment Orchestration System}} ({{EOS}}): {{Comprehensive Foundation}} for {{Laboratory Automation}}},
  shorttitle = {The {{Experiment Orchestration System}} ({{EOS}})},
  booktitle = {2025 {{IEEE International Conference}} on {{Robotics}} and {{Automation}} ({{ICRA}})},
  author = {Angelopoulos, Angelos and Baykal, Cem and Kandel, Jade and Verber, Matthew and Cahoon, James F. and Alterovitz, Ron},
  year = {2025},
  month = may,
  pages = {15900--15906},
  doi = {10.1109/ICRA55743.2025.11128578},
}