Inside Meta’s Push to Put Robots to Work in Data Centers
Meta is testing various robotics solutions in its data centers to automate tasks like power cycling and cable management. While the company claims these tools are meant to assist workers amid labor shortages, some employees fear that automation could eventually replace a significant portion of their manual workloads.
Why it matters
This development illustrates the growing trend of industrial automation in critical infrastructure and the resulting anxiety regarding job displacement.
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. “We thought those of us performing the physical tasks were safe for a while, but not anymore,” says the worker. “It’s coming for us all, unfortunately.”
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in