Retired Penn professor arrested for blocking Uber Eats robot

JuniperMesos

> Marvin, 78, said she's not sure how many times she's blocked the path of these robots, which hit the streets of Philadelphia in March. The University of Pennsylvania professor emeritus has made a practice of it to protest "corporations that displace human delivery workers in order to enrich their own bottom line." Her past encounters have circulated online. The Wednesday incident was the first time, however, that the police got involved. > Officers approached Marvin after she'd been there "quite a long time," she said. They asked her to step aside and let the robot complete its delivery. When she repeatedly refused, they arrested her for disorderly conduct. Good. I want delivery robots to be able to operate in public, I don't want people like Marvin to be blocking them because they disapprove of the concept of delivery robots or think it's bad that they're displacing human jobs, and I think that a disorderly conduct arrest is an eminently reasonable response from the criminal justice system. > 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. The first amendment doesn't and shouldn't protect interfering with reasonable delivery robot use of the public streets; indeed the law should protect the rights of operators of delivery robots to have their robots deliver items to customers without interference. The criminal justice system should absolutely incarcerate her if she publicly intends to continue interfering with delivery robots.

devindotcom

good for her. nonviolent obstruction of a commercial endeavor she opposes, much like a sit-in. whether you agree with her perspective or not I think it is important to support her ability to protest in this way, though (as she is well aware) it may come with consequences.

bradgranath

I do this whenever possible. I honestly don't understand why these aren't constantly vandalized. I just wanna peacefully protest them like this ex prof, but there's plenty of folks out there who'd like a free meal that's rolling by in a beach cooler that stops when you stand in its way.

tripleee

and yet no-one is arrested when these things block pedestrians

olalonde

Maybe it's Bluesky selection bias, but it feels like are a large chunk of social science professors are essentially full-time political activists.

vatsachak

Apparently these robots are classified as pedestrians in Philly. This is a huge mistake, they should be the same as bicycles

Human-Cabbage

I don’t agree with her stance, but it’s absurd to call standing in the sidewalk “disorderly conduct.” I hope the judge sees it that way too and dismisses the charge.

sublinear

Is this the new "dog bites man"?

georgeburdell

Amen, our fast food deliveries should only be made by humans with questionable immigration status in leased Priuses, and then only so efficiently that they forego bathroom breaks

jawns

Here's the relevant criminal code for disorderly conduct in Philly, if anyone wants to play armchair lawyer: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/ph...

GauntletWizard

I'm sympathetic to her cause; these robots are a waste of space, poorly designed and behaved - the ultimate bad neighbor as you walk down the street. I do believe that delivery robots are inevitable, and I welcome them when they come - but these are not that, and the combination of fees and fines should keep the current model off the streets.

alamortsubite

Now that the cops have helped her get the message out, by arresting her, would a better approach be to go up to the robot, say "Hi, I'm giving these out for free today, if you don't want one, let me know," put a bag over the camera pod, and leave? It seems like her time is too valuable to waste actually blocking the robot.

bonoboTP

These things should not be allowed to use sidewalks. They are a disturbance and annoyance taking space away from humans walking, chatting, etc. I don't think that saving delivery jobs is the main issue, these jobs didn't even exist a few years ago and their working conditions are anyway quite bad. It's a bigger social question why deliveries are getting so common nowadays across many countries including also different parts of Europe. I already find delivery scooters unseemly and they often drive recklessly. Ramping up this stuff even more will just lead to more social isolation, and with that conflict and generally low-trust societies. I wonder if there is some kind of city tax on these robots. You certainly shouldn't be allowed to just put an unlimited number of these things on the sidewalks and push the negative externalities on everyone else. Same way you need permits for drones, which are also a visual pollution and potential constant privacy invasion. Cars on the road are already taxed, not sure about these.

jnwatson

It is fantastic that someone is defending the noble long-standing profession of Door Dash driver. Its long history and entry path for long careers in delivery driving are fundamental to the strong middle class of this country. Let's continue this process and protest the use of other automation like commercial dishwashers and street sweeping trucks. After all, they are displacing vitally important jobs.

RobotToaster

Needs to be more people blocking these robo-scabs.

ckwalsh

If a new part of this arrest is that the robots are considered to be pedestrians, I wonder what the police would do if the professor replayed the exact same circumstances with a friend in place of the robot? Decide one of them is delivering something, run into each other at the exact same spot, and call the police to resolve it?

ok123456

What's to stop someone from going full Gallagher, just going to town with a 16lb sledgehammer, on these things?

amelius

I'm against them too, except ... in case someone is not physically capable to go out and get dinner. If I was sick at home, I would be very angry at that professor.

PinkMilkshake

We've already ceded so much public space to vehicles and now we must give up the last walkable slivers to commercial robots. Fuck them.

ChrisArchitect

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50112963