Overview
- The Salamanca City Central School District announced the pilot is on hold after the New York State Education Department warned the district it would closely monitor legal, operational, instructional and privacy risks related to the robot and its AI tutor.
- The district had contracted roughly $57,590 for a seated M-series humanoid from Realbotix paired with Optio, an AI tutoring layer that would link session memory to student IDs to recall prior questions and learning history.
- Teachers, the New York State United Teachers union and some parents objected that staff were not consulted and argued the funds could instead pay human paraprofessionals and support services.
- Realbotix defended the project as an education-focused unit separate from the company’s other businesses and said the robot was meant to complement teacher-led STEM lessons rather than replace instructors.
- Salamanca says it will seek community input and tighten privacy protections while the state continues oversight, a move that raises broader questions about data retention rules, AI accuracy and total cost of ownership for underfunded districts.