Meta Tests Data-Center Repair Robots, but Cable Bots Still Need Human Supervision

Meta is pushing robots beyond rack transport and barcode scanning toward work traditionally done by technicians: swapping cables, resetting servers, and reseating parts. The stakes are clearest in Altoona, Iowa, where a human-supervised pair of cable-working robots remains slower than people while a worker estimates a successful cable bot could displace much of some employees’ routine work.

The maintenance trials span hardware from Watney Robotics, Kinova, and ABB. Meta is evaluating a Kinova Gen3 arm for server power cycling and another robot for networking-cable swaps, according to current and former workers familiar with the projects. At the Prometheus campus in New Albany, Ohio, ABB machines with a scissor-lift-style riser and six-axis arm are being tested to reseat parts, with possible additional work planned.

Two kinds of robot work, at very different maturity levels

Meta has already deployed a self-driving tugger to move heavy server racks and an in-house wheeled robot to track inventory at multiple facilities, including sites in Iowa and Virginia. The inventory machine is also used for failure inspections. These are more bounded assignments than manipulating cables or reseating hardware.

Even the established inventory robot leaves key checks to people. Its camera detects grayscale, rather than green and red equipment indicator lights, so some failures require human assessment. Workers also described difficulty with corners and floor cables, and said a person must open doors and use a remote to move robots between buildings.

Cabling exposes the remaining gap

Altoona has served as a Meta testbed for robotics. Since June 2025, the company has tested two dual-armed Watney robots there for cabling work. They are supervised by humans and do not yet work as fast as people. Workers familiar with the broader program also cited battery-recharging downtime and slow operation.

The technical boundaries are concrete

• Meta reportedly acknowledged internally that its robots are not equipped for some intensive cabling tasks needed to run an NVIDIA GB300 supercomputer.
• A former Meta employee said data-center equipment and repair processes have long been designed for human hands, making redesign a time-consuming task.

A workforce promise alongside automation trials

One Meta data-center worker estimated that a successful cable-swapping robot could replace up to 80 percent of some workers’ workloads. That is a worker estimate, not a company forecast. Meta says it needs more skilled workers, citing a shortage, and is investing in hiring and a program intended to train thousands of people annually in electrical, mechanical, and plumbing work.

Meta is not alone in pursuing robotics for data-center operations: Microsoft and Google have made separate investments, while Amazon has discussed using robots to recycle parts. Meta’s stated long-term goals include faster incident response, environmental monitoring, and preventive maintenance. For now, its deployments and pilots show the difference between automating movement and automating repair.