Posted on 10/16/2026 2:21:02 PM PDT by Libloather
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A Center City woman was arrested after allegedly refusing to move out of the path of a delivery robot.
The confrontation was captured on video and has since drawn online attention.
Philadelphia police said officers responded to the 1200 block of Filbert Street after witnesses reported a disturbance involving Carolyn Marvin and an Uber delivery robot near Reading Terminal Market.
According to police, Marvin repeatedly blocked the robot's path and ignored multiple commands from officers to move.
She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
Marvin tells Action News 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.
She said she views her actions as protected speech.
Marvin said she has confronted delivery robots on multiple occasions, including a September incident along Broad Street that also gained attention on social media.
Ashley Baldwin of West Philadelphia said she 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at 6abc.com ...
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It won’t be the last time something like this happens.
Another self-righteous AWFUL
Our present time starts to have the feel of a lot of 1950s science fiction. Interfering with a robot in the carrying out of its duties.
“Woman arrested after blocking delivery robot in Center City Philadelphia confrontation”. A little weird, wonder what she does for a living.
My prediction, ahem....
There will be gangs going around and stealing the robots and contents, and selling parts and contents on the black market.
Waymo vehicles will be hijacked, dragged into closed box trucks and the waymo car will have same fate as robots.
The thieves will probably cut off communication of said devices before hijacking them. Big EMP blast or other modality.
Finally, crippling financial lawsuits against Robot operators when device harms someone. Maybe criminal charges if negligence is proven.
IMHO
Then....the robot pulls out a lazar and vaporizes her. And moves forward....
I wonder if she would ever block the path of an illegal foreign worker.
PIng!
The crowd was in the open air, with great curved rows of seats visible in the background. Presumably an outside auditorium of some sort Judging by the distance of the back rows, it must have been a devil of a size. Far behind its sweeping ridge a great edifice jutted into the sky, a cubical erection with walls of glossy squares, like an immense glass house.
“F’wot?” bellowed Fatty, with obvious heat. “Wuk, wuk, wuk, mor, noon’n’ni’! Bok onned, ord this, ord that” He stuck an indignant finger against the mysterious object on his cranium. “Bok onned, wuk, wuk, wuk. Fwot?” he glared around. “F’nix!” The crowd murmured approval somewhat timidly. But it was enough for Fatty. Making up his mind, he flourished a plump fist and shouted, “Th’ell wit’m!” Then he tore his box from his pate.
Nobody said anything, nobody moved. Dumb and wide- eyed, the crowd just stood and stared as if paralyzed by the sight of a human being sans box. Something with a long, slender streamlined body and broad wings soared gracefully upward in the distance, swooped over the auditorium, but still the crowd neither moved nor uttered a sound.
A smile of triumph upon his broad face. Fatty bawled, “Lem see’m make wuk now! Lem see’m — ”
He got no further. With a rush of mistiness from its tail, but in perfect silence, the soaring thing hovered and sent down a spear of faint, silvery light. The light touched Fatty. He rotted where he stood, like a victim of ultra-rapid leprosy. He rotted, collapsed, crumbled within his sagging clothes, became dust as once he had been dust. It was horrible.
The watchers did not flee in utter panic; not one expression of fear, hatred or disgust came from their tightly closed lips. In perfect silence they stood there, staring, just staring, like a horde of wooden soldiers. The thing in the sky circled to survey its handiwork, then dived low over the mob, a stubby antenna in its prow sparking furiously. As one man, the crowd turned left As one man it commenced to march, left, right, left, right ...
Accused robotaphobe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Marvin
Already updated -
She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after blocking an Uber delivery robot in Center City Philadelphia confrontation in October 2026. [4]
What law applies to blocking robot delivery, what if the robot is at fault???
What if the robot requests a robot judge and jury?
Seems stupid to block a robot but what’s the crime?
AI Overview
Whether interfering with a business is illegal depends on whether it violates civil law (tort law), statutory law, or criminal law.
www.providentlawyers.com
the business had a faulty robot, should make sure the robot knows what to do when some thing is in it’s way.
Happens all the time on roads, side walks, in stores, getting in and out of elevators, etc.
People or things can easily get in the way and robots can cause problems, because they do not know how to respond to human situations well.
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