Meta is running active robotics pilots inside its data centers, using platforms from three vendors to automate physical tasks currently handled by on-site technicians. At its Altoona, Iowa campus, dual-arm robots from Watney Robotics have been pulling and reinserting network cables in server racks since mid-2025 under remote camera supervision. A Kinova Gen3 robotic arm is being used for server power cycling and front-panel interaction, alongside a simpler finger-like actuator designed to press buttons on devices such as Mac minis via remote trigger. At Meta’s Prometheus campus in New Albany, Ohio, ABB wheeled platforms fitted with scissor-lift risers and six-axis arms are being tested for hardware reseating.
The deployments remain constrained by supervision requirements and operational limitations. Every system currently requires human oversight, with staff moving robots between aisles, opening cage doors, and verifying camera feeds before tasks are marked complete. Reports describe the robots as slower than skilled technicians and challenged by cable clutter and tight spaces, consistent with early-stage deployments across the broader data center robotics category. A figure cited in coverage suggested the systems could eventually absorb up to 80 percent of some technician workloads, but that number originated from a single unnamed Meta worker describing a hypothetical scenario for one specific role rather than a company target or confirmed outcome.
Meta spokesperson Francis Brennan told Ars Technica that the United States is in its largest infrastructure boom since World War II and that the company needs more workers, not fewer, framing the robotics work as part of a broader capacity expansion rather than a substitution effort. Both dynamics can hold simultaneously, particularly given Meta’s reported 2026 capital expenditure of $130 to $145 billion. Worker concerns cited in coverage focus less on current robot capability and more on the pace of iteration, with some describing a potential future in which skilled troubleshooting is compressed into lower-paid “smart hands” roles executing AI-generated instructions whenever robotic systems require intervention.
Meta joins a growing cohort of hyperscale operators exploring in-facility robotics as data center footprints and complexity scale in step with AI infrastructure buildout. Startups including Exclaim Robotics, which recently raised $4.95 million to develop robots for hands-on server rack repair, and Boost Robotics are competing for a category that Research and Markets projects could reach $44.2 billion by 2030. Established suppliers like ABB are also positioning platforms into the space. Whether current pilots translate into durable operational deployments will depend on reliability improvements, integration with data center management systems, and whether the economics of robot supervision improve enough to shift the balance of skilled and lower-tier human labor inside facilities.
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