Salamanca, N.Y. — When students at Salamanca High School return to class this September, they will be greeted by a new kind of classroom assistant: a humanoid robot named “Sally,” powered by artificial intelligence.
The Salamanca City Central School District, located on Seneca Nation territory in western New York, has become one of the first in the United States to bring a lifelike humanoid robot into a public school classroom. The district purchased the robot for approximately $57,600 from Realbotix, a Toronto-based robotics company.
What Sally Will Do
Sally will be integrated into 11th- and 12th-grade coding, robotics, and artificial intelligence courses at Salamanca High School, serving as a teaching support tool rather than a substitute instructor. The robot features silicone skin, long brown hair, and a Western New York accent, and is capable of moving its arms, head, and facial expressions while seated. It will not walk around the classroom.
Students will interact with Sally and an accompanying digital avatar through laptops, logging in with unique identification codes so the system can recognize individual students and track prior interactions. According to the district, students will have access to homework help through the platform around the clock.
The system operates on a closed school network, with no internet access, facial recognition, or recording capability, and is programmed exclusively around the district’s curriculum. District officials say Sally does not collect or transmit student data to Realbotix.
District Response to Concerns
Superintendent Dr. Mark Beehler acknowledged that introducing AI into the classroom marks a significant shift, but said schools need to adapt as artificial intelligence becomes more widespread in daily life.
“It’s exciting but also a bit nerve-wracking,” Beehler said. “Not everyone is open to much change in education. There was a point in time where people argued, ‘Why do teachers need email accounts?’ or ‘Do we really need to have the internet in school?’ This is the next iteration of that. And the reality is, AI is already in schools.”
The district has emphasized that the robot is intended to supplement, not replace, human educators. “The Realbotix educational robot will never replace teachers, staff members, or meaningful human interaction,” the district said in a statement.
Realbotix CEO Andrew Kiguel called the deployment a milestone for the industry, stating that the company is “moving beyond lab demonstrations and pilots to deliver real, embodied AI directly into classrooms.” He added that Salamanca “marks the beginning of a new era where humanoid robots and intelligent AI assistants become standard tools in STEM education.”
A Contested Rollout
The announcement has drawn scrutiny, in part because Realbotix is more widely known for producing AI-driven companion robots marketed for adult intimacy, a detail that has fueled skepticism and criticism online about the same company supplying technology for a high school classroom. The district has stressed that Sally has been built with education-specific safety guardrails distinct from its consumer products.
The pilot also arrives amid broader tension over the role of AI in American education. In May, the New York State United Teachers union called for strict limits on artificial intelligence and screen time in schools. Separately, New York City Public Schools recently announced a purchasing freeze on educational technology until the system finalizes formal guidance on AI use in classrooms.
Salamanca serves roughly 1,300 students, 79 percent of whom are classified as economically disadvantaged, and participates in the Woz ED STEM Pathway program. District officials framed the robot’s introduction as an opportunity to expand STEM learning access and prepare students in an under-resourced rural district for careers in emerging technology fields.
Whether the pilot expands beyond Salamanca — or influences how other districts approach AI in the classroom — remains to be seen. For now, when the 2026 school year begins this fall, Sally will be waiting in the front of the room.