The Realbotix AI-powered humanoid robot, designed for companionship, entertainment, and customer service, on display at IFA 2025 in Berlin, Germany, on September 6, 2025. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
An upstate New York school district’s planned use of an artificial intelligence-powered, humanoid robot in a classroom has been put on hold after parents and teachers raised concerns about the manufacturer, including that the company is linked to hyper-realistic sex bots.
Big picture view:
Salamanca City Central School District planned to deploy the $60,000 stationary robot with long dark hair, which had already been nicknamed "Sally." School board members for the district, which is on the Seneca Nation of Indians reservation, signed off on the nearly $60,000 purchase saying it would help high school students interested in robotics and technology fields.
What they're saying:
Superintendent Mark Beehler explained that the Realbotix robot would be able to help explain technical issues, as well as give students a chance to see how it is maintained and how to troubleshoot issues.
"Having a difficult time programming an Arduino board? Don’t even know what an Arduino board is? Ask Sally and she can explain it," Beehler said, adding that the initiative is not about replacing staff. He noted the pilot program also includes a virtual, AI-powered teacher’s assistant and at-home tutoring.
The other side:
As more and more people learned about the plan, new fears about its implementation started to rise. Parents and teachers expressed concerns about how the students’ personal information may be used. The district has said the robot would not be collecting information nor would it be recording video or audio.
Unionized teachers raised another concern, pointing out that Realbotix’s sister company produces sex dolls. Melinda Person, president of the labor union New York State United Teachers, said, "a robot built by a company associated with sex dolls has no business in our classrooms."
Dig deeper:
Realbotix responded to the privacy concerns by assuring families that any student-linked information would be encrypted and under the district’s control. It also denied that "Sally" was a repurposed sex doll, and described it as a "newly manufactured, purpose-built educational unit."
Realbotix, which focuses its products on healthcare, education, and other non-adult commercial applications, is tied to Intima LLC, a company that has an ownership stake in RealDoll, a longtime maker of sex dolls, including ones powered by AI.
What's next:
The district posted on social media Friday that the program remains on hold while it continues outreach with the community and works out new "enhanced student data privacy agreements."
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press. This story was reported from Orlando.