When students return to school this fall in the Salamanca City Central School District in Western New York, a new kind of teacher will be ready to greet them. The small rural district on the Seneca Nation reservation is set to be one of the first in the country to put a humanoid robot in a classroom. It won’t replace the teacher, but is programmed to provide learning support to both students and educators. The female robot, named Sally, will have a lifelike appearance, with silicone skin and long brown hair. It will be stationary in a seated position but will have a wide range of upper-body movements and facial expressions. Students will use a unique identification code when interacting with the robot during class, allowing it to access their learning data and provide personalized support based on their past communication with the avatar. The district plans to expand it to high school students in other classes if the pilot is successful.
