Danielle Boyer, a 25-year-old member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is using robotics to assist in the revitalization of endangered Native American languages. Boyer founded a nonprofit organization that teaches Indigenous students how to build and program "SkoBots," small AI-powered robots designed to speak Indigenous languages such as Anishinaabemowin. The project aims to supplement classroom learning by providing an interactive tool for students to practice vocabulary and pronunciation.
The initiative follows a history of language decline among North American Indigenous communities. According to tribal estimates, there are fewer than 10,000 speakers of Anishinaabemowin in the United States and approximately 25,000 in Canada. Many speakers lost their native tongues during the era of U.S. Indian boarding schools, where children were often prohibited from using Indigenous languages. Boyer reported that her own grandmother is among the last fluent speakers of their specific dialect.
Recent efforts focused on 12-year-old Holden Hoy, a member of the Sault Tribe in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Under Boyer’s mentorship, Hoy constructed a robot named "Sabe" (meaning Bigfoot) using 3D-printed parts and sensors. The robot is programmed to recognize questions and respond with specific Anishinaabemowin words, such as "makwa" for bear and "ajijaak" for crane. Hoy presented the technology at his school's year-end science fair to demonstrate how robotics can be integrated with cultural preservation.
For a student like Hoy or his classmates, the day-to-day impact is a change in how they interact with their heritage. Instead of viewing language as a school assignment, students use a localized tool that they have built themselves, which may increase the frequency of language use outside of the classroom. These robots represent a shift in educational methods, moving from traditional rote memorization to hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) applications. The cost of such programs is often covered by nonprofit grants, meaning students can access specialized robotics equipment they might not otherwise have at home or in standard school budgets.
The success of these programs has knock-on effects for tribal sovereignty and educational policy. By creating their own educational technology, tribes can control the curriculum and ensure that the pronunciation and dialects used are specific to their local community rather than a standardized version from a textbook. This sets a precedent for using modern artificial intelligence to preserve ancient oral traditions. As these students enter higher education and the workforce, they carry both technical coding skills and cultural knowledge. The program is ongoing, with Boyer's nonprofit continuing to distribute kits and provide mentorship to Indigenous youth across various states and reservations.