US school pauses plan for humanoid robot after concerns about sexbot sister company - ABC News

Topic:Science and Technology

Posted

Wed 29 Jul 2026 at 11:57am, updated

Wed 29 Jul 2026 at 12:06pm

A female humanoid robot wearing a white shirt and holding a book entering a classroom.

A US school has paused its plan to introduce a Realbotix M-Series humanoid robot named "Sally".(X: Realbotix)

In short:

A school district in rural upstate New York has paused its plans for an AI-powered, humanoid robot called "Sally" in the classroom. Parents and teachers raised concerns about the maker, Realbotix, having ties to a company, Realdoll, that produces hyper-realistic sexbots, privacy and data worries and the robot's role in the classroom.

The company pushed back at suggestions that "Sally" was simply a repurposed sex doll, saying it was a "newly manufactured, purpose-built educational unit".

A school district in a rural corner of Upstate New York is hitting pause on plans to deploy an AI-powered, humanoid robot in the classroom due to concerns about the maker's ties to a company that produces hyper-realistic sexbots. An X post showing a human-looking female robot and Innovating today empowering tomorrow in red and blue colours.

Salamanca schools has posted "Sally" will not be collecting students' personal information.(X: Salamanca CCSD)

Last year, a San Diego charter school rolled out two AI-powered robots purchased from Engineered Arts, a robotics company based in the United Kingdom, for $US500,000.

Salamanca Schools, in social media posts, stressed that "Sally" would not be collecting students' personal information, recording audio or video of its interactions or sending data back to Realbotix.