Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,
A rural New York school district on the Seneca Nation reservation is set to become one of the first in the United States to place a lifelike humanoid robot in front of high school students.
Starting this fall, Salamanca High School will introduce "Sally," an M-Series robot built by Realbotix, to assist in coding, robotics, and AI classes for 11th and 12th graders.
Sally comes with brown hair, silicone skin, a Western New York accent, upper-body movement, and facial expressions. She remains seated and cannot walk the room. Students will log in with unique identification codes so the machine can recognize them and pick up previous interactions.
The full package - robot plus the accompanying Optio AI tutor platform - cost the district $57,590, a discounted figure below the average New York teacher salary and well under the company's listed starting price near $95,000.
"The Realbotix educational robot will never replace teachers, staff members, or meaningful human interaction," the Salamanca City Central School District stated. Instead, they describe it as an instructional tool loaded only with district-approved curriculum, historical information about Salamanca, and content designed to encourage critical thinking rather than simply spit out answers.
The system reportedly operates offline with no internet connection, collects no personally identifiable information, records neither video nor audio, and transmits nothing back to the company. If asked something outside its knowledge base, it is programmed to reply "I don't know."
Realbotix CEO Andrew Kiguel called the deployment "a landmark moment for both AI and humanoid robotics." He added: "We are moving beyond lab demonstrations and pilots to deliver real, embodied AI directly into classrooms, supporting teachers, engaging students, and proving that advanced robotics can thrive in live educational environments. Salamanca marks the beginning of a new era where humanoid robots and intelligent AI assistants become standard tools in STEM education."
Superintendent Dr. Mark Beehler expressed enthusiasm for giving students "a safe, Salamanca-specific AI tutor" and educators customized tools. The pilot begins with students in the district's Woz ED AI and Robotics pathway - curriculum inspired by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak - and could expand to roughly 500 high school students if deemed successful.
Students will also interact with digital avatars of the robot on laptops for after-hours tutoring, homework help, and support in multiple languages.
The company behind Sally has a more colorful history. Realbotix previously acquired the parent firm of RealDoll, the well-known manufacturer of hyper-realistic sex dolls and companion robots. Officials stress that the education division operates separately in staff, facilities, and technology, with a planned ownership separation, yet the connection has not gone unnoticed.
Reactions on X captured the skepticism. One popular reply asked bluntly, "Why does the robot have lip injections?" Another observed the contradiction in officials promising robots will never replace teachers while simultaneously noting the machine costs less than a human educator.
Critics pointed to the company's adult-product roots and questioned the wisdom of placing such technology in front of teenagers in an economically challenged community. Homeschool advocates seized on the moment to argue that parents should simply keep their children out of systems experimenting with this level of automation.
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