The Automation Loop: Integrating automation to transform vivarium workflow, data, and sustainability

The LAS sector faces converging pressures—reproducibility demands, workforce volatility, sustainability mandates, and public scrutiny — that manual, labor-intensive vivarium models were not built to absorb. Presenters introduce the “Automation Loop,” a systems-level approach that connects cage wash operations, autonomous guided vehicles, and intelligent cage-level monitoring into a continuous, data-driven workflow. They examine how this integration reduces repetitive manual tasks, improves environmental consistency, generates actionable research data, and measurably reduces water, energy, and resource consumption — positioning the automated vivarium not as a technology aspiration but as an operational and institutional sustainability strategy.