March 30, 2026 - New Uber Eats delivery robots were sabotaged and vandalised in Sheffield, UK, with the vandals taking care to cover all of the many cameras on the robots with paint. [article]
New robotic food delivery equipment being used in a Sheffield suburb has been vandalised with spray paint. A vertical pole with an orange flag on one of the robots - designed to make it visible as it travels the streets of Meersbrook making deliveries for the food-ordering app Uber Eats - was bent to the ground. A charging station alongside a scout hut has also been defaced and traffic cones were placed behind the robots to prevent them from moving. Starship Technologies, which operates the equipment, said: "It's a shame to see a few people spoiling things for everyone else and damaging a new service for local people." Each of the bots is equipped with cameras and a suite of sensors. "The vehicles are fully autonomous" [AKA BEING OPERATED REMOTELY BY WORKERS IN LOW WAGE COUNTRIES] "and have been designed to navigate paths and busy roads safely, often using pedestrian crossings."
