Inside Meta’s Push to Put Robots to Work in Data Centers

image via WIRED

August 28, 2026, 10:56 AM

• •Meta is testing robots from vendors including Watney Robotics, Kinova, and ABB for data center tasks.
• •Reported experiments include robotic power cycling, cable swapping, inventory scanning, and moving heavy server racks.
• •Some workers fear successful deployment could replace large portions of certain technicians’ workloads.
• •Meta says the US data center boom has created a shortage of skilled labor and that it is training and hiring more workers.
• •The robots still face practical limits such as battery downtime, slow speed, and difficulty handling some environments and hardware.

Meta is testing several robots in its data centers to handle tasks such as resetting servers, swapping cables, transporting racks, and tracking inventory. Workers interviewed by WIRED said the effort could eventually reduce human labor needs at a time when Meta is rapidly expanding AI infrastructure. The company says it still needs more skilled workers and is investing in training and hiring, while executives have publicly described robots as a long-term goal for incident response and maintenance. Current systems still have significant limitations, including slow movement, recharge downtime, and difficulty with some complex hardware tasks.

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