Dramatic video captured the moment Philadelphia police led away a woman who had positioned herself in front of a futuristic food delivery robot, preventing it from reaching its destination.
Carolyn Marvin, 78, was arrested at about 1.16pm on Wednesday after allegedly blocking an Uber Eats robot in the 1200 block of Filbert Street, according to the Philly Voice.
The confrontation took place near Philadelphia’s well-known Reading Terminal Market. Video showed Marvin standing directly in the robot’s path before at least three police officers removed her from the area.
Marvin, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, told the outlet that officers approached her after she had remained in place for “quite a long time.”
She repeatedly declined requests to move aside and was eventually arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct.
Marvin said she was deliberately protesting the growing use of autonomous delivery robots across the United States.
“I know they’re taking the jobs of human delivery workers and so, I have been protesting them whenever I saw them by standing in front of them and preventing them from going forward,” Marvin told WPVI.
She also argued: “I think it’s my First Amendment right to publicly demonstrate on a sidewalk to protest against delivery robots.”
Carolyn Marvin, 78, was arrested at about 1.16pm on Wednesday in Philadelphia after allegedly blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot from reaching its destination
Marvin, a University of Pennsylvania professor emeritus, said she was protesting the robots because they were “taking the jobs of human delivery workers”
The Philadelphia Police Department told Our News Outlet on Saturday that Marvin had been issued a criminal violation notice.
Although she said she had never previously been stopped by police, Marvin’s encounters with delivery robots had already drawn local attention and gone viral.
Ashley Baldwin, who lives in West Philadelphia, witnessed one of those incidents and initially feared Marvin had been injured.
“I actually thought the robot hit her, so my original question was, ‘Are you okay? Did the robot hit you?’” Baldwin told the outlet.
Marvin reportedly replied: “No, I have to stop this. They’re taking over the world.”
Marvin had been leaving a flu shot appointment when she allegedly stopped the Uber Eats robot on Wednesday.
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She said the incidents gave her an opportunity to speak with curious passers-by “about what’s going on.”
“It’s always very interesting conversations that we have, and I think it’s good to have those kinds of conversations in public space,” Marvin told the Philly Voice.
Despite receiving the violation notice, Marvin said she intended to continue protesting the food delivery robots.
Marvin said her arrest by Philadelphia police would not stop her from protesting food delivery robots
The Uber Eats delivery robots, which are operated through Avride, arrived to Philadelphia in March
Marvin explained that public opinion on what she did was ‘divided,’ with some believing that her actions were unfair to the customers who spent money on getting their food delivery.
To that, Marvin responds that people should be concerned about robot couriers taking human jobs.
There is concern that’s exactly what could happen as food delivery robots become more widely used and effectively mean lower labor costs.
An estimated 5,000 robot couriers currently operate in the US, tech analyst Dan Ives told The New York Times.
The Uber Eats robots, which are operated through Avride, debuted in Philadelphia this March and were touted as ‘the future of delivery.’
As a whole, the couriers operate in at least 10 metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles and Miami, through partnerships with platforms like Uber Eats or DoorDash.
Over the next three years, the number of robots is expected to reach 8,000, according to Ives.
Some analysts have predicted the delivery robots industry in the US to eventually generate more than $5 billion.
Our News Outlet has reached out to Marvin for further comment.
