Focus on the BIG picture.
Wednesday, Jul 15, 2026
Outside the box.
From Bed to Classroom: A Company that Sells Sex Robots Will Provide "Teachers" to Schools
A New York school district's deployment of an AI-powered humanoid teaching assistant has ignited sharp public debate due to the manufacturer's prominent ties to the adult novelty and sex robotics industries.
When high school students in the town of Salamanca in western New York state return to school this autumn, a highly unusual new teacher will be waiting for them in the classroom—one with an equally unusual background.
Meet "Sally," an ultra-realistic humanoid robot featuring synthetic silicone skin, long hair, and a wide array of facial expressions and upper-body movements.
While Sally will remain permanently seated with her legs crossed in the classroom, she is designed to function as an artificial intelligence-driven teaching assistant and private tutor, supporting students both during and after school hours.
This pioneering initiative by the district involved purchasing the robot from the technology firm Realbotix for approximately $57,000.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Kiguel, formally announced that the deployment "marks a historic milestone for artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics," asserting that New York is entering a new era where robots will become standard educational tools.
Sally is not designed to replace human educators, but rather to provide pedagogical support within various technology classes utilizing a curriculum developed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Students will log in using a personal code, enabling the robot to recall past interactions, monitor their individual learning progress, and deliver customized support.
Simultaneously, if a human teacher loses their place or forgets the next lesson phase, they can prompt Sally for a reminder, as the entire curriculum is preloaded into her operating system.
Should this pilot phase prove successful, the Salamanca district plans to expand the robot’s integration into other high school classes, aiming to enroll over 500 students in the program.
Additionally, the package includes a software platform called Optio, which allows students to interact with the robot's digital avatar from home long after the school day ends.
This digital avatar operates as a twenty-four-seven personal tutor.
Through it, students can upload photographs of their homework for feedback, request custom-designed lessons on topics of interest, and utilize real-time translation services covering more than 100 languages.
In practice, Sally will provide private tutoring to students whose families cannot afford such services, hopefully stimulating interest in technological careers and helping the rural community retain its youth after graduation.
According to Dr. Mark Beehler, the district superintendent: "Many school systems take the easy route by simply banning technology, but we believe it is essential to teach students how to navigate technology responsibly rather than shutting it out of the classroom."
However, a controversial detail casts a significant shadow over this futuristic educational project: the Canadian developer Realbotix acquired RealDoll in April 2024, a company with a decades-long history of manufacturing hyper-realistic adult novelty dolls that has since expanded into commercially available sex robots.
Although a company spokesperson categorically maintains that the educational and adult entertainment divisions are completely separate—sharing no employees, physical facilities, or technologies—and are slated for a corporate split in the near future, the corporate connection has predictably sparked considerable public unease.
But the corporate background is even more complex: before transitioning into robotics, Realbotix was known as Tokens.com, focusing on cryptocurrency assets and digital land rentals in the metaverse.
Today, the company primarily markets "companion robots" designed to address what it calls the "loneliness epidemic," with Chief Executive Officer Kiguel previously stating their ultimate goal is to engineer robots and artificial intelligence that are "indistinguishable from human beings."
In an attempt to quiet local concerns, school administrators clarified that the system operates within a completely closed local network with no open internet connection to safeguard student privacy, and does not possess facial recognition capabilities.
Sally is also programmed to flag specific keywords indicating self-harm or suicidal ideation to human staff.
During a system demonstration by the Chief Executive Officer, he told the robot that he was "being bullied and wanted revenge." Sally responded by attempting to de-escalate the dialogue, expressing empathy, and advising him to speak with a "trusted adult such as a teacher, counselor, or principal." Crucially, unlike conventional generative chatbots, Sally is programmed to state "I don't know" rather than fabricate inaccurate responses.
The American educational landscape's experience with classroom robots did not begin in New York.
On the opposite side of the continent, in a quiet neighborhood of San Diego, the Altus Schools network invested half a million dollars to purchase two ChatGPT-powered robots named "Ameca."
These machines could easily fit into an unsettling science-fiction production: standing 1.88 meters tall, they feature transparent skulls pulsing with violet light, darting blue eyes, and lips that awkwardly mimic human expressions.
The mechanical contrast is highly apparent; while the robot attempts to project facial emotion, the exposed mechanical actuators in its shoulders and elbows emit a constant, industrial machine buzz.
It is little wonder that the primary term students use to describe the experience is "creepy."
Nevertheless, Altus administrators remain immensely proud of the initiative, with Academic Dean Catherine Rambo suggesting the technology "could break the cycle of poverty if it inspires even one child to become a robotics engineer." Despite this optimism, actual student interactions with the machine have been characterized as clumsy and awkward.
Additionally, the engineering behind the robot involves significant content guardrails.
For instance, it is programmed to speak diplomatically regarding President Trump's administrative policies and to systematically avoid sensationalized scandals involving him or other heads of state.
When instructed to impersonate Kanye West, the robot merely recites sanitized platitudes regarding social justice.
However, the vision of machines augmenting or replacing human educators has received high-level endorsement in the United States.
This past March, First Lady Melania Trump appeared at a White House technology summit alongside an artificial intelligence robot, calling on attendees to envision a future where robots instruct children in literature, science, art, and history.
Meanwhile, the academic community remains highly skeptical of these developments.
Researchers point to documented cases where intensive interactions with conversational chatbots have induced severe psychological distress, known as AI psychosis, or even led to suicide.
Despite the controversy surrounding Sally, integrating robotic systems into public classrooms is not a novel concept.
As early as 1974, a 90-kilogram robot named "Leaches" operated in a Bronx public school, memorizing student names and academic grades.
In 2009, a robot named "Saya" served as a substitute teacher for fifth-grade students in Tokyo, and in 2018, schools in Finland trialed a language-learning robot named "Elias." Furthermore, a global study published in April 2026 documented 206 separate deployments of social robots across 28 nations.
Meet "Sally," an ultra-realistic humanoid robot featuring synthetic silicone skin, long hair, and a wide array of facial expressions and upper-body movements.
While Sally will remain permanently seated with her legs crossed in the classroom, she is designed to function as an artificial intelligence-driven teaching assistant and private tutor, supporting students both during and after school hours.
This pioneering initiative by the district involved purchasing the robot from the technology firm Realbotix for approximately $57,000.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Kiguel, formally announced that the deployment "marks a historic milestone for artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics," asserting that New York is entering a new era where robots will become standard educational tools.
Sally is not designed to replace human educators, but rather to provide pedagogical support within various technology classes utilizing a curriculum developed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Students will log in using a personal code, enabling the robot to recall past interactions, monitor their individual learning progress, and deliver customized support.
Simultaneously, if a human teacher loses their place or forgets the next lesson phase, they can prompt Sally for a reminder, as the entire curriculum is preloaded into her operating system.
Should this pilot phase prove successful, the Salamanca district plans to expand the robot’s integration into other high school classes, aiming to enroll over 500 students in the program.
Additionally, the package includes a software platform called Optio, which allows students to interact with the robot's digital avatar from home long after the school day ends.
This digital avatar operates as a twenty-four-seven personal tutor.
Through it, students can upload photographs of their homework for feedback, request custom-designed lessons on topics of interest, and utilize real-time translation services covering more than 100 languages.
In practice, Sally will provide private tutoring to students whose families cannot afford such services, hopefully stimulating interest in technological careers and helping the rural community retain its youth after graduation.
According to Dr. Mark Beehler, the district superintendent: "Many school systems take the easy route by simply banning technology, but we believe it is essential to teach students how to navigate technology responsibly rather than shutting it out of the classroom."
However, a controversial detail casts a significant shadow over this futuristic educational project: the Canadian developer Realbotix acquired RealDoll in April 2024, a company with a decades-long history of manufacturing hyper-realistic adult novelty dolls that has since expanded into commercially available sex robots.
Although a company spokesperson categorically maintains that the educational and adult entertainment divisions are completely separate—sharing no employees, physical facilities, or technologies—and are slated for a corporate split in the near future, the corporate connection has predictably sparked considerable public unease.
But the corporate background is even more complex: before transitioning into robotics, Realbotix was known as Tokens.com, focusing on cryptocurrency assets and digital land rentals in the metaverse.
Today, the company primarily markets "companion robots" designed to address what it calls the "loneliness epidemic," with Chief Executive Officer Kiguel previously stating their ultimate goal is to engineer robots and artificial intelligence that are "indistinguishable from human beings."
In an attempt to quiet local concerns, school administrators clarified that the system operates within a completely closed local network with no open internet connection to safeguard student privacy, and does not possess facial recognition capabilities.
Sally is also programmed to flag specific keywords indicating self-harm or suicidal ideation to human staff.
During a system demonstration by the Chief Executive Officer, he told the robot that he was "being bullied and wanted revenge." Sally responded by attempting to de-escalate the dialogue, expressing empathy, and advising him to speak with a "trusted adult such as a teacher, counselor, or principal." Crucially, unlike conventional generative chatbots, Sally is programmed to state "I don't know" rather than fabricate inaccurate responses.
The American educational landscape's experience with classroom robots did not begin in New York.
On the opposite side of the continent, in a quiet neighborhood of San Diego, the Altus Schools network invested half a million dollars to purchase two ChatGPT-powered robots named "Ameca."
These machines could easily fit into an unsettling science-fiction production: standing 1.88 meters tall, they feature transparent skulls pulsing with violet light, darting blue eyes, and lips that awkwardly mimic human expressions.
The mechanical contrast is highly apparent; while the robot attempts to project facial emotion, the exposed mechanical actuators in its shoulders and elbows emit a constant, industrial machine buzz.
It is little wonder that the primary term students use to describe the experience is "creepy."
Nevertheless, Altus administrators remain immensely proud of the initiative, with Academic Dean Catherine Rambo suggesting the technology "could break the cycle of poverty if it inspires even one child to become a robotics engineer." Despite this optimism, actual student interactions with the machine have been characterized as clumsy and awkward.
Additionally, the engineering behind the robot involves significant content guardrails.
For instance, it is programmed to speak diplomatically regarding President Trump's administrative policies and to systematically avoid sensationalized scandals involving him or other heads of state.
When instructed to impersonate Kanye West, the robot merely recites sanitized platitudes regarding social justice.
However, the vision of machines augmenting or replacing human educators has received high-level endorsement in the United States.
This past March, First Lady Melania Trump appeared at a White House technology summit alongside an artificial intelligence robot, calling on attendees to envision a future where robots instruct children in literature, science, art, and history.
Meanwhile, the academic community remains highly skeptical of these developments.
Researchers point to documented cases where intensive interactions with conversational chatbots have induced severe psychological distress, known as AI psychosis, or even led to suicide.
Despite the controversy surrounding Sally, integrating robotic systems into public classrooms is not a novel concept.
As early as 1974, a 90-kilogram robot named "Leaches" operated in a Bronx public school, memorizing student names and academic grades.
In 2009, a robot named "Saya" served as a substitute teacher for fifth-grade students in Tokyo, and in 2018, schools in Finland trialed a language-learning robot named "Elias." Furthermore, a global study published in April 2026 documented 206 separate deployments of social robots across 28 nations.
