School Sparks Debate After Buying Humanoid Robot Teacher

As hiring teachers becomes increasingly difficult, a rural New York school is set to become one of the first schools in the nation to use a robot to teach students.

Salamanca City Central School District bought the robot, Sally, for $57,590 — less than the median annual salary for a New York teacher. Sally is an AI-powered humanoid robot from Realbotix, according to KRLD Newsradio 1080. The robot will function as a teaching assistant tool starting in September for 11th- and 12th-grade coding, robotics, and artificial intelligence classes.

Andrew Kiguel, CEO of Realbotix, said in an interview with the New York Focus that the company is currently building the robot, furnishing it with silicone skin, long brown hair, and a mobile upper body and facial expressions to make it look as human as possible. 

While the robot cannot walk around the classroom, students can log into Sally with a unique identification code during class, according to the New York Focus. Then, the robot has access to the student’s learning data, exclusively using it to provide specialized support based on their profile, according to Kiguel. 

“They’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, I’m student number 1234,’ and then the robot will be like, ‘Hey, we were talking about this yesterday, do you want to continue that conversation?’” Kiguel said.

The robot is not a replacement for teachers, but functions as a teacher’s assistant specifically in the school’s nationally recognized and highly regarded STEM program. Using the WozEd curriculum developed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the program prepares students for essential college degrees and tech careers. 

If Sally is successful, the school district hopes to integrate robotic assistant teachers into other high school classrooms, according to the New York Focus. After school hours, students can interact with an AI avatar of Sally, receiving help with assignments by uploading pictures of homework for feedback. Students can also have the robot create lessons for topics of interest and “receive real-time translations in over 100 languages.”

As of October 2025, almost 40% of schools banned AI outright, with only 13% of high schools encouraging it. As schools grapple with both optimism and concern about integrating AI into the classroom, Salamanca Superintendent Mark Beehler said he is not taking the “easy solution.”  

“I also believe it is critical for schools to teach proper use of technology, not simply exclude it,” Beehler said. 

Under a Facebook post from the school district about the robot, some parents raised concerns about the district’s further integration of AI in what it describes as an “underserved area.” The school district is located on a Native American reservation with about 1,300 students, 32% of whom identify as Native American and 79% are considered economically disadvantaged. 

“I just don’t understand the concept of adding AI onto that,” said local parent Sierra Abrams. “Bringing it into the school district is contradicting everything we believe, in my opinion.” 

Others were upset that the school did not appear interested in hearing parents’ opinions before implementing the pilot.

Realbotix boasts about its robots’ human appearance and ability to “remember your previous interactions, building genuine connections with its audiences.” 

While the robots can be used from media and entertainment to healthcare and corporate services, Realbotix claims that the robots are “ideal to tackle North America’s staggering loneliness epidemic.”