On Oct 14, a woman in Pennsylvania was arrested after allegedly refusing to move out of the path of a delivery robot.
The Philadelphia Police Department confirmed to Inc. that officers assigned to the 9th District responded to a report of criminal mischief. “Police issued multiple commands directing the female to move; however, she refused to comply,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
In an interview with WPVI, the woman, identified as Carolyn Marvin, told the outlet, “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.”
A video of the confrontation was posted online and circulated across multiple social media platforms, gathering mass attention. “You guys are clowning her, but that bot is taking jobs away from people,” said one user.
Marvin told WVPI that she was exercising her First Amendment rights and has confronted delivery robots on multiple occasions. A local eyewitness resident, Ashley Baldwin, told the outlet that she has witnessed one of those encounters.
“I actually thought the robot hit her, so my original question was, ‘Are you OK? Did the robot hit you?’ And she said, ‘No, I have to stop this. They’re taking over the world,'” Baldwin said.
When asked by WPVI whether she plans to continue protesting against the robots, Marvin said she will, adding that she hopes the incident encourages a discussion about delivery robots, artificial intelligence, and their expansion in everyday life.
Robot resistance
Philadelphia Police confirmed to Inc. that Marvin was issued a Criminal Violation Notice for disorderly conduct following her arrest. Citation fines can average US$100 (RM408) per ticket and can run higher with repeated offences.
Marvin’s in-person battle against technology opens up a larger conversation on consumer attitudes toward automation.
“We consistently see that people attribute intention and emotional life to even the simplest interactive system,” Keith Evan Green, a professor of human-centred design at Cornell University, told Inc. “People read a delivery robot on a sidewalk not as a tool but as an alien invading their space.”
Uber first launched delivery robot pilots in May 2022 in California and has continued to expand across the United States. The first autonomous sidewalk delivery robot was created in August 2014 by Starship Technologies, which launched its initial fleet in 2017 under Postmates; now the trend has expanded to other food delivery platforms like DoorDash.
Public approval of automation continues to evolve since its early inception. In his 1930 essay, Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, economist John Maynard Keynes popularised the term “technological unemployment,” a growing fear that machines or automation replace workers faster than the economy can create new types of jobs.
“The anger isn’t about what the robot can do but about its perceived agency,” Green adds. “We’re quick to resent machines that act with apparent independence – some people have gone so far as to kick or vandalise them. That they may take our jobs, I think, is a separate matter.” – Inc./Tribune News Service
