Danielle Boyer, a 25-year-old member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, developed the SkoBot, a customizable toy robot designed to help Indigenous children learn their native languages. The concept emerged from Boyer’s observation that while toys teach English, no comparable tools existed for languages like Anishinaabemowin, which encompasses Potawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe dialects. With fewer than 10,000 speakers in the U.S. and around 25,000 in Canada, Anishinaabemowin faces significant endangerment.
Boyer founded a nonprofit while still in her teens and has since mentored hundreds of Native American youth across the country in constructing their own SkoBots. The robots use artificial intelligence to speak Indigenous languages and feature designs resembling woodland creatures decorated with Native American florals. Each SkoBot can be mounted on a user’s shoulder and responds to voice prompts by playing prerecorded audio files, deliberately avoiding generative AI to prevent false information and cultural distortion.
One participant is 12-year-old Holden Hoy from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, also a member of the Sault Tribe. Hoy, an enthusiast of robotics, programmed his SkoBot, named Sabe (Bigfoot in Anishinaabemowin), to answer questions in his voice and the Ojibwe language. He showcased his creation at his school’s end-of-year science fair in Sault Ste. Marie.
Boyer emphasizes that the SkoBots are not intended to replace interactions with fluent speakers but rather to generate enthusiasm for learning languages while developing competency in science, mathematics, and engineering. She also advocates for ethical AI use and warns against relying on large language models that may fabricate words in Indigenous languages. Hoy’s mother, Jocelyn, noted that the initiative has motivated her son to embrace his heritage and teach family members about their culture, a shift she credits to understanding the inseparable connection between language and cultural identity.
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