Philadelphia professor, 78, blocks delivery robots with her body

Carolyn Marvin, 78, an emerita professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, is fighting delivery robots in Philadelphia with her own body: she steps onto the sidewalk in front of a machine and simply stands there. The robot detects the obstacle and freezes too. Police recently detained the woman for this protest.

Locals don’t always understand what is going on. One resident, Ashley Baldwin, told a local TV channel she mistook the scene for a collision: “I thought the robot had hit her and asked if she was okay. And she said she had to stop this, because the robots are starting to run the world.”

Officers tried to talk the retiree out of it, but she held her ground. She ended up in handcuffs and was charged with disorderly conduct. Even so, Marvin still intends to fight the robots: she sees them as a threat.

The professor explains her motivation simply: robots are taking jobs from human couriers, so she protests every time she meets one. In her view, the First Amendment to the US Constitution gives her the right to stand on the sidewalk and voice her disagreement. In an interview with a local radio station she went further, saying she also opposes “brazen rich corporations that rob human workers, poor couriers, to boost their profits.”

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz