This Retired Professor Was Arrested for Blocking a Delivery Robot. She Says She’ll Do It Again
- Earlier this month, Carolyn Marvin, a 78-year-old retired University of Pennsylvania communications professor, was arrested for blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot near the 1200 block of Filbert Street in Philadelphia.
- Marvin has spent months deliberately obstructing delivery robots as a symbolic protest against technology infiltrating public space, targeting privacy concerns and the displacement of low-income delivery workers.
- Pennsylvania law classifies autonomous delivery robots as "personal delivery devices"—pedestrians, not vehicles. Marvin argued she holds a First Amendment right to protest corporate abuses in the same public spaces the machines occupy.
- Philadelphia Police Department officers issued a disorderly conduct citation after Marvin allegedly refused repeated commands to move, leading to her handcuffing and brief detention in a squad car.
- Despite the citation, Marvin intends to continue her protest campaign against delivery robots, though she noted she will keep an eye out for police moving forward.
23 Articles
23 Articles
The Independent
The Independent (US)78-year-old former college professor arrested for blocking delivery robot in protest
‘I was under the impression that I had more rights than the robot did’
Philadelphia professor arrested for blocking delivery robots, says she would do it again because she believes she has more rights than a robot
A 78-year-old retired professor in Philadelphia has vowed to continue protesting delivery robots after she was arrested for repeatedly standing in their
On 14 October it was not the first time that Carolyn Marvin came between an autonomous delivery robot and one of its customers.
This retired professor was arrested for blocking a delivery robot. She says she’ll do it again
(CNN) — October 14 wasn’t the first time Carolyn Marvin put herself in front of an autonomous delivery robot. It had become, since the wheeled little food vessels were unleashed upon certain parts of Philadelphia, a habit for the 78-year-old:…
A former professor at the University of Pennsylvania turned the blockade of autonomous delivery robots into a protest against the expansion of technology in public space. "I had the impression that I had more rights than the 78-year-old robot, Carolyn Marvin, a former professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania, was arrested after [...]
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