AI humanoid robots are starting to appear in classrooms in several countries, among them Iris, a sari-wearing robot built by Makerlabs Edutech and deployed at KTCT Higher Secondary School in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, as part of India's Atal Tinkering Lab initiative, backed by government policy think tank NITI Aayog since 2021.
In the United States, Manara Academy in Arlington, Texas, has trialled robot teachers aimed partly at supporting English Language Learners, part of a wider push, also seen in Japan, to use the technology to address teacher shortages and widen access to personalised instruction.
Writing on the topic, Dr Jasmin Cowin, an Associate Professor and U.S. Department of State English Language Specialist, points to embodied-cognition limits on what a robot can actually replicate in a classroom, alongside a Goldman Sachs estimate that AI advancement could affect up to 300 million jobs globally, as reasons the technology's role in education remains contested rather than settled.