#58 - Building the Missing Layer: Open Scheduling, Swarm Automation & Why Labs Need Control

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYj4HUq5ZqYOLGU_V3_dmTSK-_BOHZbwj" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Automation in the Wild – Podcast Playlist | #HelicalBrew #ViralVideo #Podcast</a></p><p>Lab automation runs on software nobody talks about. Schedulers, drivers, integration layers — the invisible glue holding million dollar systems together. Today we&#39;re pulling it apart.</p><p>Mike Salmi is the founder of Cheshire Labs and creator of Orca, an open source scheduler built from years of real automation work in clinical, contract, and biotech R&amp;D environments.</p><p>We get into why vendor software keeps falling short, what it actually costs to write a device driver ($14,000 apparently), why open source changes everything for startups, and how AI just rewrote the rules.</p><p>Guest: Mike Salmi — Cheshire Labs</p><p>Hosts: Mike Ouren &amp; Sura Hadi</p><p>🔗 cheshirelabs.io</p><p>🔗 Orca on GitHub</p><p>🔗 Mike Salmi on LinkedIn</p><p>🎬 Chapters</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">00:00</a> Cold Open</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=19s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">00:19</a> Welcome &amp; Intro</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=102s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">01:42</a> Icebreaker — When did you know you had to build it yourself?</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=327s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">05:27</a> Life Inside Real Automation Stacks</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=703s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">11:43</a> Where Vendor Software Falls Short</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=989s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">16:29</a> 13 Windows Licenses</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=1184s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">19:44</a> Device Drivers &amp; AI</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=1337s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">22:17</a> Why Every Integration Feels Custom</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=1443s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">24:03</a> Cheshire Labs &amp; Orca — The Origin Story</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=1539s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">25:39</a> Why Build an Open Source Scheduler?</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=1683s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">28:03</a> Cloud Native Lab Infrastructure</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=1902s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">31:42</a> Swarm AI in Practice</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=2082s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">34:42</a> Claude Driving the Robot</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=2100s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">35:00</a> AI Helps &amp; AI Risks</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=2404s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">40:04</a> AI Readiness Factor</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=2655s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">44:15</a> Picks of the Week — Claude Code &amp; Flipper Zero</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkuDthppTTM&t=2842s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">47:22</a> Wrap Up &amp; Where to Find Mike</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/helicalbrew" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#HelicalBrew</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/labautomation" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#LabAutomation</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/opensource" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#OpenSource</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.