A hot potato: A lot of people are angry at the sight of robots carrying out deliveries, seeing it as another sign that machines are making more human jobs obsolete. One such person, a 78-year-old retired professor, made her displeasure known last week by repeatedly standing in front of a delivery robot, blocking its path. The situation ended with her being handcuffed and arrested, but it hasn't deterred her from staging more protests.
Carolyn Marvin, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communication, decided to take a literal stand against an oncoming Avride delivery robot from Uber Eats in Philadelphia's Center City. She repeatedly stood in its path so it couldn't move.
Marvin's actions drew a small crowd, and Philadelphia police eventually responded after witnesses reported a disturbance near Reading Terminal Market.
ABC13 reports that Marvin repeatedly ignored officers' requests to allow the robot to pass. She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
Marvin later said she was protesting the use of delivery robots because she believes they are replacing human workers.
"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 said, adding that she considers her action as protected speech.
She also confirmed that she had confronted delivery robots on multiple occasions. One witness to a previous encounter thought the machine had hit Marvin. When asked if she was okay, Marvin replied, "No, I have to stop this. They're taking over the world."
When asked if she plans to continue her protests following her arrest, Marvin said, "I do. Why not? I think it's my First Amendment right to publicly demonstrate on a sidewalk to protest against delivery robots."
In a different interview with KYW Newsradio, Marvin went into more detail about why she was interfering with the robots. She called it a protest against the "ruthless way that rich corporations are casting aside human workers – and here, we're talking about the humble delivery folks – in order to enrich their bottom lines."
Marvin added that she hopes the attention her protests receive will encourage more discussion about delivery robots, artificial intelligence and their growing role in everyday life.
Earlier this year, it was reported that as the number of delivery robots on the streets increases, so too does the number of social media clips showing people kicking, grabbing, and even attempting to destroy the machines. While some incidents involve attempted theft, many appear to be expressions of anger at the bots, which symbolize the automation of a job once performed exclusively by humans.