A 78-year-old Philadelphia woman was arrested and cited for disorderly conduct after intentionally blocking a food delivery robot and refusing police orders to move. Carolyn Marvin says she was protesting delivery robots replacing human workers when officers intervened near Reading Terminal Market on Oct. 14.
Marvin told she hadn’t expected to be arrested because she believed she was leaving people room to pass. “I wasn’t impeding any persons. I was impeding a machine,” she said.
Why was she blocking the robot?
Marvin told her protests address three concerns. Delivery workers losing income, robots creating sidewalk hazards and onboard cameras raising privacy issues. She said she typically delays a robot for 10 to 15 minutes when she encounters one and has time to stop.
She had been doing this for months before her arrest, according to . On Oct. 14, she was returning from a flu shot appointment when she spotted an Uber Eats robot and stood in its path. Police told the outlet they responded to a report of criminal mischief on Filbert Street around 1:16 p.m…