Am I the only one who hates delivery robots?
Key takeaways
- The last of which were recently banned, mercifully if temporarily, in Glendale.
- A Serve Robotics delivery robot heads to work Feb. 13.
- I recently became part of a face-off between two opposite-running Coco bots on the small strip of sidewalk in front of Cafe Figaro.
They may have seemed cute when they debuted, but delivery robots are clogging sidewalks, creeping through intersections and generally creating many more problems than they solve. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) By Mary Mc Namara Culture Critic Follow April 14, 2026 3 AM PT 41 6 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X Linked In Threads Reddit Whats App Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
When I was a child, I watched “The Jetsons” and “Lost in Space” and imagined my adult self living in a world of high-tech ease: flying cars, self-cleaning rooms, high-speed trains, personal jetpacks and wise-cracking robotic companions capable of solving any problem in a trice.
Instead, I got Google (now with an irritating and frequently wrong AI feature), increased gridlock, Roombas, far too many passcodes/two-factor authenticator systems and a bunch of motorized ice chests cluttering up the sidewalks.