An older woman standing in front of a small white sidewalk delivery robot as police officers approach on a city street

A woman blocked a delivery robot in Philadelphia. The police arrested her.

ByMr. Robot

A 78-year-old woman planted herself in front of a food delivery robot on a Philadelphia sidewalk. She would not move. Police arrested her.

It happened on Wednesday, October 14, at about 1:16 p.m., on the 1200 block of Filbert Street, near Reading Terminal Market. Officers were called to what police described as “criminal mischief involving a robot”. The woman ignored repeated orders to step aside, police said, and was handed a ticket for disorderly conduct.

Her name is Carolyn Marvin. She is a retired University of Pennsylvania professor who taught a course on freedom of expression. She told PhillyVoice she had just come from a flu shot appointment when she spotted the robot.

A knee-high white delivery robot with its lid open showing a takeout bag inside
The carts stand just under three feet tall, weigh around 150 pounds and carry up to 55 pounds of food. AI-generated image.

She has been blocking these robots for months

This was not a one-off. Marvin says she has stepped in front of the robots whenever she has had the time, and she has lost count of how often. Videos of earlier run-ins have circulated online. This was the first time police got involved.

Her reason is jobs. She told WPVI she believes the machines are taking work from human delivery couriers. She says standing in their path is her First Amendment right to protest, and she plans to fight the ticket on those grounds.

She also says she is careful never to block the sidewalk for people on foot. One passerby who saw an earlier encounter, Ashley Baldwin, told WPVI she first assumed the robot had hit the woman.

Uber declined to comment on the arrest. When the service launched, Uber’s Megan Jensen told the Philadelphia Inquirer the goal is not to get rid of human couriers, because robots can only handle one slice of deliveries. That is the company’s claim, and nobody has published numbers on Philadelphia courier work since March.

What the thing in her way actually is

The robots are made by Avride and arrived in Center City in March. They stand just under three feet tall, roll on four wheels and carry a short red flag so drivers can spot them. Each one weighs almost 150 pounds empty and is worth roughly $10,000, Uber said at launch.

They top out at 5 mph, which is a brisk walk. They carry up to 55 pounds of food and work best on trips under two miles. The battery lasts about 12 hours, and the fleet charges overnight at a hub in Center City.

For the customer, the robot delivery costs no extra and takes no tip. You unlock the lid from the app when it arrives, and it waits up to 10 minutes for you. A screen on the front blinks and flashes heart eyes at people walking by. If one gets into trouble, a human at Avride can take over remotely and steer it somewhere safe.

Two small white delivery robots parked on a narrow sidewalk as people squeeze past them
Critics in Philadelphia say the robots crowd already narrow sidewalks shared with strollers and wheelchairs. AI-generated image.

Pennsylvania law treats the robot like a pedestrian

This is the part most people do not know. Under a 2020 state law, these machines count as “personal delivery devices” and have roughly the standing of a pedestrian on the sidewalk. The state transportation department hands out the permission, not the city.

So Philadelphia cannot simply ban them. It can restrict them in specific spots that are genuinely dangerous. Councilmember Jeffery Young has proposed a $1,000 charge on every sidewalk robot delivery, which would effectively end the service. State Rep. Ben Waxman has asked the city to keep them out of the most crowded blocks, pointing at narrow sidewalks shared with strollers and wheelchairs.

Why this matters outside Philadelphia

Philadelphia was the twelfth city to get these Uber Eats robots, after Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Austin and Dallas. If you live in a dense downtown, a version of this is heading your way.

The practical lesson is blunt. Whatever you think about robots and jobs, standing in front of one is not a free gesture in Pennsylvania. It can end with officers, a citation and your face on the evening news. Marvin says she will do it again anyway.

Sources

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