Meta is using robots and related hardware from several different vendors, including Watney Robotics, Kinova, and ABB, according to the same workers, who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media. Kinova and ABB declined to comment. Watney didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In one experiment, Meta is evaluating whether a Kinova Gen3 robotic arm could be used for power cycling, or cutting off electricity to servers. The company is also testing a different robot to swap networking cables. One Meta data center worker estimates that if it’s successful, the bot could replace up to 80 percent of some people’s workloads.
It looks like a finger—or perhaps a pointy stick—that can press the power button on a Mac Mini or other device to restart it when remotely prompted by a human. Meta declined to comment on the testing described in this story. Company spokesperson Francis Brennan said in a statement that Meta is investing heavily in training and hiring workers to build and operate its data centers.
But at a conference last year, Eric Xu, senior manager for robotics at Meta, said the company’s “long-term goals” are to put robots in data centers, arguing they could speed up incident response, monitor the environment, and handle preventative maintenance. Until recently, robots largely weren’t well suited for the delicate work happening in data centers. They were expensive, and in earlier trials in the industry, sometimes crushed servers while attempting simple tasks, a person briefed on the experimentation says.
But the hardware has gotten cheaper, and the AI models powering robots are now far more capable than they were a few years ago. Several startups are currently working to build commercial robots capable of assembling servers, swapping parts, and replacing wires. Do you currently work at a data center or have previously and want to talk about what's happening in the industry?
We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at peard33.24 Robots could offer more consistent output at a lower cost than human labor, especially in less populous regions where data centers are plentiful but qualified workers are scarce. Proponents also rally behind a pro-worker message: Like AI agents promise to do for knowledge workers, they argue robots could take on data center technicians’ most repetitive and dangerous tasks while freeing them to focus on more complex challenges.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
