Overview
- A 78-year-old retired University of Pennsylvania professor, Carolyn Marvin, says she has repeatedly stood in front of autonomous delivery robots earlier this month and was handcuffed and issued a disorderly conduct citation after refusing police orders to move.
- Philadelphia police said officers responded to a report of criminal mischief involving a delivery robot and found a woman refusing multiple commands to allow the machine to pass.
- Marvin frames her actions as symbolic First Amendment protest against job displacement for low-income couriers, sidewalk hazards and privacy risks from robots’ cameras.
- The incident highlights Act 106 of 2020, which calls delivery machines “personal delivery devices” and gives them many pedestrian rights under Pennsylvania law, raising new questions about enforcement and how protests against robots will be treated.
- Uber Eats began robot deliveries in Philadelphia in March and the episode has prompted fresh public debate and limited company comment about sidewalk rules, accessibility and whether cities should set stricter limits on privately run autonomous devices.