A delivery robot on the streets of Los Angeles. Etienne Laurent/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Its name is Courtney.

Courtney doesn’t have eyes, but it’s got sensors everywhere. There are two blinking lights on the front of its boxy body to approximate wide, moony pupils. It’s been described as a “large cooler on four wheels.”

Courtney is a food delivery robot from Serve Robotics, transporting Uber Eats orders typically when there’s a mile or less between a restaurant and a customer. Courtney showed up in my Atlanta neighborhood one day toward the end of June with dozens of other four-wheeled bots with names like Deandre and Orion.

Courtney and the bots have had some trouble navigating Atlanta. They get confused at crosswalks. They move with the speed and caution of a first-time driver, stil

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