05/21/2026
GET OFF MY DAMN SIDEWALK!!! 🤖
You may have noticed them lately rolling through neighborhoods like Logan Square, Bucktown, and Wicker Park — small autonomous delivery robots cruising down the sidewalk carrying someone’s dinner.
They’re part of a pilot program run by companies like Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics, designed to make food delivery faster, cheaper, and more efficient by using small robots that travel around 5 mph along neighborhood sidewalks.
But when Daniel La Spata surveyed residents about expanding the program deeper into the 1st Ward — which includes parts of Logan Square, Bucktown, and Wicker Park — the response was pretty clear.
About 83% of the nearly 500 residents who responded said they strongly oppose expanding the robots in the neighborhood.
The concerns?
Blocked sidewalks, accessibility issues for pedestrians, and the simple reality that Chicago sidewalks are already busy places filled with strollers, dogs, bikes, and people trying to get where they’re going.
For now, expansion of the delivery robots in the ward has essentially been paused while the city evaluates the feedback.
So the question becomes — are these robots the future of urban delivery, or just another tech idea that doesn’t quite fit the rhythm of Chicago’s neighborhoods?
Either way, this is one of those fascinating moments where technology and city living collide — and Chicagoans are making their voices heard.
