Meta is testing hardware from different companies to hand over some of the tasks performed by technicians in data centers to robots. According to employees, the company is using products from Watney Robotics, Kinova and ABB. The trials include cutting and restoring power to servers with a Kinova Gen3 robotic arm and replacing network cables. One Meta employee says that, if successful, the robot could take on up to 80% of some employees’ workload. In some facilities, simple robots directed remotely by humans are being used to restart devices by pressing their power buttons.
Meta says it is investing heavily in training and hiring workers for its data centers, arguing that it needs more employees, not fewer. However, Eric Xu from the company’s robotics division said the long-term goals are to deploy robots in data centers, speed up incident response, monitor their surroundings and perform preventive maintenance. Cheaper hardware and more advanced artificial intelligence models are paving the way for startups developing robots for tasks such as server assembly and the replacement of parts and cables. Advocates say robots could take on repetitive and dangerous tasks, allowing employees to focus on more complex work; in the future, they could also make it easier to operate data centers underwater or in environments unsuitable for human habitation, such as space.
The growing use of robots is not yet a major concern for activists who oppose supporting data centers with employment and tax incentives. Workers at Meta’s Altoona campus in Iowa fear that they could lose their jobs within a few years because of robots. Some workers are also concerned that AI-powered systems will accelerate the shift toward a lower-skilled, lower-paid workforce. Meta, meanwhile, has launched a free program to train thousands of people from diverse backgrounds each year in electrical, mechanical and plumbing work; it offers job guarantees to those who complete the training in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana and Texas.
In 2023, Meta introduced an autonomous robot that carries heavy server racks and a barcode-scanning vehicle that tracks inventory. These robots operate at some facilities in Iowa and Virginia; however, the inventory robot cannot distinguish between colored lights, struggles with cables and corners, is slow and is carried between buildings by people. At Altoona, Watney’s two-armed robots are being tested for cabling work, while at the Prometheus campus in New Albany, Ohio, ABB’s robots are being tested to place parts. Nevertheless, it has not yet been proven that humans will become entirely unnecessary, given the robots’ slowness, need for charging and unsuitability for complex cabling tasks. Microsoft, Google and Amazon have also announced investments or plans related to the use of robots in data centers.
Why it matters
These trials raise questions about how technical work will be divided in data center operations and which skills will become more valuable in these environments. As robots are used for repetitive or hazardous tasks, employees’ roles may shift toward maintenance, supervision and more complex interventions, even if they do not disappear entirely; for this reason, the scope of training programs and hiring policies is becoming increasingly important. The impact of this development is not limited to Meta employees; it could also affect employment expectations at other technology companies making similar investments, as well as the relationship between data centers and local economies. However, the slowness, charging and complex cabling problems of current systems leave open questions about the extent to which human labor can be replaced and whether automation will actually provide workers with more skilled tasks.
Background
Meta is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 3 news articles mentioning the name in the last 90 days; the latest was dated August 28, 2026.