In response to these concerns, the New York district superintendent has emphasised that the Realbotix unit will remain stationary, confined to a single room and reserved primarily for teachers and the last two year groups.
The school district of Salamanca, New York, in the territory of the Seneca Nation, is about to host Optio, an educational assistant developed by the robotics company Realbotix, accompanied by a humanoid unit of the M series. As the announcement generated strong reactions, Superintendent Mark Beehler insisted on narrowing the scope of the announcement.
The scheme is intended to serve as school support: homework support, curriculum review, personalized tutoring in several languages. According to the person in charge, he "acts as a tutor outside school hours" and guides students to the answer rather than delivering it to them. He insists on two points: the robot is fixed, and it does not replace any teachers — it is an additional tool oriented scientific disciplines.
The pilot started in August in a single classroom, with limited access to teachers and students in the last two years, before a gradual expansion. The superintendant puts forward the planned safeguards, in particular the confidentiality and processing of students' data, and justifies the experiment by the idea that these technologies will weigh heavily in the working lives of the young people concerned.
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