--- title: "Delivery Robot Torments Disabled Man" description: "A viral video shows a delivery robot in Los Angeles brake checking and cutting off a man with cerebral palsy using a mobility scooter." date: "2025-09-27" modified: "2025-09-27" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/robots-and-machines/delivery-robot-torments-disabled-man" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Drones" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" --- # Delivery Robot Torments Disabled Man ![A viral video shows a delivery robot in Los Angeles brake checking and cutting off a man with cerebral palsy using a mobility scooter.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images / Serve Robotics* A man with cerebral palsy who uses a mobility scooter to travel experienced a blood-boiling episode when he kept getting cut off — by a robot. In a [video]() that's gone viral on social media, Mark Chaney repeatedly attempts to drive his scooter around a sluggish delivery bot operated by a startup called Swerve Robotics as it randomly stops and occupies half a sidewalk in West Hollywood. Even more strangely, the clanker courier — like certain maniac drivers on a highway — seemed to get swept into an episode of road rage. When Chaney tries to pass, the bot swerves directly into his path, even brake checking him a few times. Before the video ends, it cuts him off, continues driving for half a second, then slams the brakes again. It happened so quickly that Chaney ends up rear-ending the machine. "The way that it moved just seemed really intentional," Chaney, a disability advocate, [told the *Los Angeles Times*](). "Everywhere that I moved, it blocks, and then it literally went across the sidewalk to cut me off." Chaney's encounter sums up the frustrations that pedestrians — and sometimes motorists — experience with the autonomous robots that have [taken over college campuses and cities across the US](), including Los Angeles. Don't let their small stature fool you. While most of the time they're more of a mild nuisance or a [source of bemusement]() than a physical threat, they can still hurt people and cause accidents. Last year, a woman suffered a bad fall after [she was struck by a robot from Starship](), one of the leading delivery bot startups, that suddenly reversed into her path — and then backed in**to** her *again* before fleeing the scene of the crime. Meanwhile, they've also traded paint with and [damaged cars](). One bumbled into the path of and [collided with a Waymo robotaxi](), in a rare instance of autonomous vehicle on autonomous vehicle violence. Another [plowed through a crime scene](). In a statement addressing this latest incident, Serve said its robots are designed to safely navigate around mobility devices and people with disabilities. "We regret when we do not live up to that," it said, per the *LA Times*. "After examining this incident, we learned that our safety system designed to predict pedestrians' intentions and yield right of way instead caused the robot to impede their way," Serve explained. "Within moments, the robot came to a full stop in response to sensing a pedestrian in close proximity, which is considered its fail-safe state." Chaney told the *LA Times* that he asked Serve to create an accessibility council to address these issues. "I think this is really important for the future of AI and the disability landscape," he added. "This presents an opportunity to really tackle a problem head on, make some positive change." Since being uploaded two weeks ago, Chaney's video has racked up some 30 million views on TikTok and Instagram, bringing an outpouring of support and some good humored-jokes that highlight the absurdity of the encounter. But weirdly, there's been some vitriol, too. "There's been a lot of online hate, which is to be expected when you go viral," Chaney told the *LA Times*. "But, you know, the death threats are not great." His critics — if you can call them that — accuse him of staging the incident for money and attention, like one video comment with more than 1,600 likes that asserts Chaney's "in the wrong here and maybe looking for a payout," per the newspaper. "I didn't do this to sue someone," Chaney said. "I just wanted to get from one place to another on a public space, safely and unimpeded." **More on robots:** *[Amazon Testing Humanoid Robots to Ride in Vans, Hand-Deliver Packages]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()