Retired professor, 78, cited for blocking Uber Eats delivery robot in Philadelphia

Carolyn Marvin, a 78-year-old retired University of Pennsylvania professor, was cited for disorderly conduct after refusing to let an Uber Eats delivery robot pass in Philadelphia. She says she will keep protesting, though state law treats the machines much like pedestrians.

A 78-year-old retired University of Pennsylvania communications professor who regularly stands in the path of self-driving delivery robots was arrested and cited for disorderly conduct in Philadelphia after refusing to let an Uber Eats machine pass, CNN and The Independent reported.

Carolyn Marvin encountered the robot on Oct. 14 near the 1200 block of Filbert Street in Center City while returning home from a flu shot. She stood in its way until a crowd gathered and police were called. Officers responded to a report of criminal mischief involving a robot, and after she allegedly refused repeated orders to move, she was issued a disorderly conduct citation. "I was under the impression that I had more rights than the robot did," Marvin said.

Under Pennsylvania's Act 106 of 2020, autonomous delivery machines, officially known as personal delivery devices, are given many of the same rights and responsibilities as pedestrians. Motorists must yield to them at crosswalks, while the robots must yield to pedestrians and cyclists. Uber Eats launched its robot delivery fleet in Philadelphia in March, making it the fourth city where meals can be delivered by robot.

Delivery robots lined up on a sidewalk in Miami (file photo)

Marvin says she blocks a robot only when it is "convenient and possible," usually for 10 to 15 minutes, and that her protest is meant to draw attention to delivery workers losing jobs, sidewalk safety and privacy risks from the machines' cameras. "I don't think we should surrender the sidewalks to machines," she said. Asked whether she would keep blocking the robots, she replied: "Oh yeah."