PHILADELPHIA — A 78-year-old retired professor was cited for disorderly conduct after she refused to move out of the way of a food delivery robot on a city sidewalk. Carolyn Marvin, a former communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, stood in the robot’s path and ignored several police orders to step aside, according to People. Marvin says she blocks these robots on purpose as a form of protest. She argues that people have more right to public sidewalks than companies’ machines do.
Standoff Near Reading Terminal Market
The incident happened on October 14, 2026, near Reading Terminal Market in Center City. Police were called to the 1200 block of Filbert Street at about 1:16 p.m. after a complaint involving an AVRIDE delivery robot. Officers found Marvin standing in front of the robot and refusing to let it pass.
Police said they gave her multiple commands to move, but she did not comply. She was then issued a criminal violation notice for disorderly conduct. The confrontation drew a crowd of onlookers, and video of the incident spread online.
Protest Over Jobs and Public Space
Marvin later said she has been blocking delivery robots deliberately. She sees it as a protest against companies that are putting more automated machines on public sidewalks. She believes residents are being left out of decisions about how their neighborhoods are used.
Her biggest concern is jobs. Marvin worries that delivery robots will replace human workers who depend on delivery work to make a living. Swapping low-wage delivery workers for automated vehicles, she argues, has a human cost that companies should not ignore.
Concerns for Wheelchair Users and Privacy
The robots also take up space on already crowded sidewalks. For wheelchair users and people with other mobility needs, a robot in the way can be more than a small inconvenience. Disability advocates in cities like Chicago have questioned whether these machines leave enough room for pedestrians.
Then there are the cameras. Delivery robots record their surroundings as they travel through residential streets and public spaces. Marvin questions who can access that footage and how it is used. She says residents should not have to accept constant surveillance just because a company wants to grow its delivery service.
“I Was Impeding a Machine”
After receiving the citation, Marvin defended her actions. She said she did not block any person from getting through. Speaking to CNN, she said she believed she had more rights than the robot, adding that she was impeding a machine, not people.
Marvin has also pointed to her First Amendment right to protest. She compared the spread of delivery robots to the rise of the automobile, saying society once let cars take over public streets. She does not want sidewalks to go the same way.
Debate Over Robots on City Streets
Marvin has a long history of activism, and she has said she plans to keep protesting the robots. Her case has sparked a wider debate over where protest rights end and obstruction begins. Supporters see her as standing up for workers, while critics say the robots have a legal right to use the sidewalk.
For now, police and the city treat her actions as disorderly conduct. But her protest has raised questions about jobs, accessibility and privacy that will be hard to ignore as more delivery robots appear on city sidewalks.
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