Retired Professor Blocks Philadelphia Delivery Robot in Protest Over Worker Jobs

Carolyn Marvin, a 78-year-old retired professor, was cited for disorderly conduct after blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot on a Philadelphia sidewalk and refusing police orders to move. She says the brief obstruction is a symbolic protest against robots displacing low-income delivery workers, creating sidewalk hazards and raising privacy concerns because of their cameras; she also argues she has a First Amendment right to protest in public space. Pennsylvania law classifies autonomous delivery devices as pedestrians, giving them sidewalk rights while requiring them to yield to people and cyclists. Marvin says she may continue the protest, which she estimates delays deliveries by only a few minutes.