Meta tests robots for hands-on data center maintenance
Meta is testing robotic arms and other systems to handle cables, server resets, and power controls inside its expanding data centers.
Meta is experimenting with robots that could perform routine physical work inside its data centers, including connecting cables, resetting servers, and controlling power to equipment. The projects may help the company manage a growing data center footprint while limiting labor costs as spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure increases.
The effort involves hardware from multiple robotics suppliers and remains in the testing stage. Available details do not establish when, where, or whether Meta will deploy the systems broadly.
Robots could take on several physical tasks
According to current and former workers familiar with the projects, Meta is evaluating robots for jobs that have traditionally required data center employees to interact directly with servers and networking equipment.
Tasks under consideration include:
- Plugging in or replacing networking cables
- Resetting servers
- Power cycling server equipment
- Cutting electricity to servers when needed
- Handling other physical maintenance work inside data centers
One experiment involves a Kinova Gen3 robotic arm. Meta is assessing whether the arm can be used to power cycle servers or disconnect their electricity. A separate robot is being tested for swapping networking cables.
These trials indicate that Meta is exploring automation beyond software-based data center management. The systems would need to manipulate real equipment in an environment where cables, servers, and power controls must be handled correctly.
Meta is working with several robotics vendors
Workers familiar with the initiative identified Watney Robotics, Kinova, and ABB as vendors supplying robots or related hardware for Meta’s tests. The use of several suppliers suggests the company is examining different systems rather than relying on a single robot or vendor for every task.
Kinova and ABB declined to comment on the work. Watney Robotics did not respond to requests for comment. The current and former Meta workers who described the projects requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.
The information therefore offers a limited view of the program. Meta’s precise plans, the number of robots involved, and the data centers participating in the tests were not disclosed.
Labor savings appear to be part of the goal
The robotics effort comes as Meta expands its data center operations and increases spending on infrastructure for AI. Automating repetitive physical tasks could allow the company to operate those facilities with fewer people or reduce the amount of routine work assigned to existing staff.
One Meta data center worker estimated that a cable-swapping robot, if successful, could replace as much as 80 percent of the workload performed by some employees. That figure is an individual estimate, not a company projection, and it refers to portions of certain workloads rather than 80 percent of all data center jobs.
The worker also expressed concern about the implications for employees who believed physical maintenance work would be less exposed to automation. “We thought those of us performing the physical tasks were safe for a while, but not anymore,” the worker said. “It’s coming for us all, unfortunately.”
That reaction illustrates the uncertainty surrounding automation for staff whose roles depend heavily on hands-on tasks. However, the reported tests do not show that Meta has already eliminated positions or made a final decision about staffing.
Testing does not guarantee broad deployment
The projects should be understood as experiments rather than evidence of a completed transition to robotic data center operations. Meta is evaluating whether the machines can perform specific jobs, and the available report does not provide results from those evaluations.
Several important questions remain unanswered:
- How reliably the robots can work with live server and networking equipment
- Whether the systems can perform tasks across different data center layouts
- How much human supervision they would require
- What the robots and their supporting systems would cost
- Whether Meta intends to expand the tests across its data center network
- How any wider deployment would affect staffing levels
Without those details, it is not possible to determine the economic or operational outcome of the program. A robot that can complete a task during a controlled test may still require further development before it can be used routinely.
A new area of data center automation
Meta’s trials focus on physical jobs rather than only the software and computing processes running within a data center. If the experiments succeed, robots could assume a larger share of repetitive maintenance while human workers oversee equipment or handle tasks the machines cannot complete.
For now, the clearest conclusion is that Meta is actively testing robotic systems from several vendors for cable, server, and power-related work. The initiative could eventually reduce the human labor required for some duties, but its scale, timeline, and ultimate effect on employment remain unclear.
Original reporting: Ars
Originally reported by Ars.