{"slug": "school-pauses-robot-teacher-plans-after-parents-discover-the-company-also-makes", "title": "School pauses robot teacher plans after parents discover the company also makes sex robots", "summary": "The Salamanca City Central School District in Western New York has paused its plan to introduce Sally, a $60,000 AI-powered robot teacher from Realbotix, after parents discovered the company also manufactures sex robots. Superintendent Mark Beehler said teaching is a \"human-to-human process\" and that the robot cannot replace a human in a school.", "body_md": "A school in Western New York has scrapped its plan to introduce Sally, an AI-powered robot teacher, to its classes, after backlash from parents.\n\nWhile Artificial Intelligence has started playing a big role in many people’s lives, humanoid robots are not that widespread just yet. Sure, there are [some businesses testing them as serving staff,](https://www.dexerto.com/food/mcdonalds-tests-robot-workers-but-its-limited-to-one-store-3339193/) but they haven’t succeeded everywhere.\n\nBack in early July, the Salamanca City Central School District in Western New York announced [plans to bring a humanoid robot into classes as a classroom assistant. ](https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/school-reveals-lifelike-humanoid-teacher-that-will-be-in-classes-very-soon-3388088/)Named Sally, the lifelike robot from Realbotix would be able to interact with students and their classwork.\n\nIt initially drew a bit of skepticism online, as well as with parents, with a few of them flagging security concerns about allowing a robot to store data about their children – seeing as each child would have a unique number to interact with the robot.\n\n## Sally robot won’t be in schools just yet\n\nNow, the school district has paused its plans to utilize the $60,000 robot in the coming semester due to that growing backlash.\n\nAs per the [Associated Press,](https://apnews.com/article/new-york-school-artificial-intelligence-robot-teacher-c2126c704104c4eb68b79738630b07df) a number of parents flagged that the same company has a history of building dolls designed for intimacy, rather than school learning or teaching children, while the teachers’ union also rallied against it.\n\n“Our pilot project with Relbotix is currently on hold while we work through enhanced student data privacy agreements with the New York State Education Department and continue engaging with our community and stakeholders,” they posted on Facebook.\n\nSuperintendent Mark Beehler also said that there is “no possible way a robot can replace a human in a school,” and that it would not be in the “best interest of students,” even if it were possible.\n\n“Teaching is a human-to-human process,” he added.\n\n## Related\n\nOver in Japan,[ robot baggage handlers have been deployed](https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/robot-baggage-handlers-deploying-at-japan-airports-to-combat-labor-shortages-3357889/) to help with labour shortages in airports, as the country has seen an influx of tourists.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/school-pauses-robot-teacher-plans-after-parents-discover-the-company-also-makes", "canonical_source": "https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/school-pauses-robot-teacher-plans-after-parents-discover-the-company-also-makes-sex-robots-3392246/", "published_at": "2026-07-29 12:03:30+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-29 12:30:42.861788+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy", "robotics"], "entities": ["Salamanca City Central School District", "Realbotix", "Mark Beehler", "New York State Education Department"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/school-pauses-robot-teacher-plans-after-parents-discover-the-company-also-makes", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/school-pauses-robot-teacher-plans-after-parents-discover-the-company-also-makes.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/school-pauses-robot-teacher-plans-after-parents-discover-the-company-also-makes.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/school-pauses-robot-teacher-plans-after-parents-discover-the-company-also-makes.jsonld"}}