Meta Experiments with Robots for Data Center Maintenance

Meta is testing robots from vendors like Watney Robotics, Kinova, and ABB to handle tasks such as cable swapping, server resets, and power cycling in its data centers. One worker estimates a successful robot could replace up to 80% of some technicians' workloads, raising job security concerns. Meta says it is investing in training and hiring, but its long-term goal includes deploying robots to speed up incident response and monitoring.

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The Kinova Gen3 arm is being evaluated for power cycling duties, while a separate robot handles networking cable swaps. A simpler device resembling a finger can remotely trigger power buttons on devices like Mac Minis