this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2026
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A retired Penn professor has been blocking Uber Eats robots for months. This week, she got arrested for it (www.phillyvoice.com)
submitted 1 week ago by UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53250107

Police confirmed they had responded to a report of "criminal mischief involving a robot" on the 1200 block of Filbert Street around 1:16 p.m. on Wednesday. A woman on the scene ignored "multiple commands" to move, they said, resulting in a criminal violation notice for disorderly conduct.

Uber declined to comment.

Marvin, who plans to contest the charge on the grounds of her First Amendment right to protest, has been undeterred by the arrest. She plans to continue blocking Uber Eats robots and chatting with curious passersby who ask what she's doing.

"It allows me to talk to people about what's going on," she said. "It's always very interesting conversations that we have, and I think it's good to have those kinds of conversations in public space."

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[–] hydrashok@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don’t disagree about the robots using the sidewalk, but for now, that’s allowed, even if it’s dumb. The law hasn’t caught up.

I think the park bench is analogy is wrong because a person sitting isn’t equivalent to a traveling delivery robot. Surely one does not expect the entire sidewalk for their own use, robot or not, just like no reasonable person could demand a bench from someone actively using it.

I think a better thought experiment would be you walking down the sidewalk to work, and then me getting in your way specifically and preventing you from moving any further forward. Then you get mad (rightly so) and call the cops because someone’s bothering you and you can’t get by. If I were to continue to block you when they arrive and tell me to step aside repeatedly, and I still don’t move to let you past, of course I’d be arrested.

It’s stupid because I agree with her and your position about the robots, but not the method used here. It’s very old man yells at clouds energy to me.

[–] Colloidal@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago

I can just walk around you. Why doesn't the bot do it?