New York school district pauses robot teacher plan

A school district in upstate New York has suspended its plan to introduce a humanoid robot teaching assistant into classrooms following significant backlash from state officials, teachers, and parents, who raised concerns about data privacy and the robot manufacturer's corporate ties to a sex doll company. The Salamanca City Central School District board had approved the purchase of the roughly $60,000 robot, nicknamed "Sally," from the company Realbotix, with the intent of using it to enhance robotics and technology education for high school students.

The district announced the plan in early July, with Superintendent Mark Beehler describing the stationary, brown-haired robot as a tool to help students learn programming and hardware maintenance. However, the initiative quickly drew criticism as details emerged. A primary concern centered on the corporate structure of Realbotix, which has a sister company, Intima LLC, that holds an ownership stake in RealDoll, a manufacturer of lifelike sex robots. While Realbotix and district officials stressed the two entities operate independently with separate management and product lines, the association provoked strong opposition.