--- title: "78-Year-Old Woman Hauled Off In Handcuffs After Blocking Delivery Robot" description: "A retired professor was willing to risk arrest to make a peaceful stand against the fleet of delivery robots taking over her neighborhood." date: "2026-10-19" modified: "2026-10-19" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/robots-and-machines/78-year-old-arrested-protesting-delivery-robot" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" --- # 78-Year-Old Woman Hauled Off In Handcuffs After Blocking Delivery Robot ![A photo shows Carolyn Marvin at a university event.]() *University of Pennsylvania* A retired professor was handcuffed and arrested last week, for the crime of standing on the sidewalk in front of a delivery robot. According to [local channel *6ABC*](), 78-year-old Carolyn Marvin was arrested in Philadelphia's Center City, after planting her feet in the path of an oncoming Avride delivery robot. Marvin, a retired communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told local reporters she was protesting the robots due to the threat they pose to local delivery workers. "I know they're taking the jobs of human delivery workers," Marvin told *6ABC*, "and so I have been protesting them whenever I saw them by standing in front of them and preventing them from going forward." The "confrontation" — if you can call it that — attracted a small crowd, who watched as police ordered Marvin to move out of the robot's path. When she refused, citing protected speech, she was arrested and charged with one count of disorderly conduct, which she reportedly plans to dispute in court. It wasn't Marvin's first time passively protesting Philadelphia's [growing fleet]() of delivery robots, and it probably won't be her last. Asked by *6ABC* whether she plans on continuing her demonstrations, she replied that "I do. Why not?" "I think it's my First Amendment right to publicly demonstrate on a sidewalk to protest against delivery robots," Marvin continued. In a separate interview [with *KYW Newsradio*](), the retired professor said she was protesting the "ruthless way that rich corporations are casting aside human workers — and here, we're talking about the humble delivery folks — in order to enrich their bottom lines." The incident raises a valid legal question around delivery bots: if the privately-owned devices need unimpeded access to [public infrastructure]() to work, who's responsible for making sure they have room to roam? **More on robots:** *[Walmart Running Into Trouble as Its Super-Expensive Robots Can't Handle the Realities of Warehouse Work]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()