A rural school district in upstate New York decided to cancel the plan to bring in a robot after teachers, state officials, and community members raised their concerns about the robot’s involvement in the classroom, student privacy, and the company’s ties to the adult robotics industry.
Salamanca City Central School District decided to use nearly $60,000 from their budget to buy a stationary humanoid robot from Realbotix.
The robot, which they affectionately named “Sally,” was meant to aid students in high school programs involving robotics, artificial intelligence, and other advanced technologies. It would also assist these students with programming, maintenance, updates, and troubleshooting.
The plan to bring in the robot drew criticism from community members who knew about the connection between Realbotix and another company that makes adult sex robots.
New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person argued that a robot from a company tied to the adult robotics industry has no place in the classroom. Other teachers also raised concerns about whether creating an AI-powered robot would lead to replacing human teachers with robots.
Many others were concerned about student privacy. New York Education Commissioner Betty Rosa voiced her concerns about how the robot would function and what information it would collect from students.
Even though the robot would not be able to teach lessons on its own, the robot was presented to the school board as a tutoring tool.
The district has halted the implementation of the robot, and it is currently working with state officials to develop stronger student data privacy rules while also addressing community members’ concerns. Superintendent Mark Beehler has argued that the technology was always supposed to serve as an ancillary tool, and he stressed the importance of human interaction in education.
The district stated that Sally will never be able to access a student’s microphone or camera or collect any personal information or data and send it to Realbotix. It will also not be able to access the internet or other unauthorized generative AI programs. According to the district, any information would be held on local devices while authenticating students’ identities.
Realbotix also denied the accusation that the robot was modified from one of their existing sex robots. They argued that the robot was created specifically for the school district and was not modified in any way.
They insisted that it used different hardware that was not repurposed from a sex robot.
The company also clarified that it has no direct connection to Intima LLC, which owns RealDoll, a company that produces sex dolls and other adult-oriented robots. Realbotix stated that Intima LLC and Realbotix are different entities with different executives, workers, facilities, products, and strategies.
Beeler strongly advocated for the technology and said it would give students in remote areas access to innovative opportunities without having to travel to urban centers to interact with new technologies.
The district hopes that the robot, which will be called “Sally,” would inspire students to pursue robotics, AI, and other STEAM industries.
However, many community members want the robot to be removed from the school because they believe students would benefit from increased human interaction rather than decreased human interaction. This debate over whether to bring in the robot has opened up a much larger conversation about student data privacy, ethics, and technology in the classroom.
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