Hot on the heels of food delivery robots’ nationwide debut, West Hollywood has introduced Marsha, the world’s first LGBTQIA+-themed delivery robot.
Marsha is a collaborative creation by artist Sküt (Scott Lewallen), Serve Robotics and Pink Dot, which hosted the robot’s debut in an unveiling ceremony Friday. Mayor Pro Tem John Erickson and Councilmember Chelsea Byers were on hand to mark the occasion.
“We’re thrilled to engage in our first artist collaboration with Sküt as we acknowledge LGBTQ history for Pride Month,” said Ali Kashani, Co-Founder and CEO of Serve Robotics. He emphasized the company’s respect for West Hollywood’s diverse culture and its commitment to celebrate this diversity.
Pink Dot owner Sol Yamini expressed his excitement to host Marsha, which was named after Marsha P. Johnson, a prominent queer liberation activist and self-identified drag queen who played a key role in the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Johnson’s enduring efforts for LGBTQ+ rights have made her a heroic icon of the community.
Pink Dot, located on the iconic Sunset Strip, was among the pioneering companies to collaborate with Serve Robotics.
Marsha’s design was a perfect fit for the rainbow stylings of Sküt, who proposed the project.
Sküt’s creation combines the historical LGBTQ symbolism of Gilbert Baker’s original eight-color Rainbow Pride Flag from 1978 with the contemporary representation of the 2018 “Progress Pride” flag by Daniel Quasar, honoring the Trans and POC communities.
“I strive to solve issues visually,” Sküt said. “Observing historical pride flag iterations, I felt motivated to modernize those colors for diverse contemporary mediums.”
The result is a unique 13-color ‘Pride Fusion’ design, inspired by pop-art and intended to pay respect to the past while celebrating the present.
Sküt, an LA native, is known for his work as a local artist and muralist in West Hollywood and a member of the Artlounge Collective. His exhibits have been featured in several locations, including Mondrian Los Angeles, Aquarium of the Pacific, The Artist Tree, TAG Gallery, The Other Art Fair, and V Wine Room Weho. Additionally, he co-founded Grindr, the world’s largest social network for gay, bi, trans, and queer people, and advocates for LGBTQ and environmental causes. Sküt also conducts art classes in local venues. His latest work can be seen at the Artlounge, located on La Brea at Beverly.
I’m waiting for the crazed homeless vs robbed robot wars to start up soon.
How about a photo of Marsha?
I took stormy out for a walk a little while ago. A white weho car drove up, and a gentleman got out, and we started to talk. Turns out his name is George Lopez, and he told me he was with code enforcement. As we were talking, a delivery robot came up the hill on the other side of the street, and I said to him that one had gotten stuck the other day and couldn’t get over the curb. He said that this one seems to be going OK. Just at that moment, it stopped. Nobody came out from… Read more »
And please dump George Lopez who apparently had his brain delivered to the wrong address. City Staff do not live in the real world although they are compensated as though they do. Most are neither logical nor practical but certainly know the way to the bank.
I think your response to my comment is missing the point that I was hoping to make.
I don’t know this gentleman other than just chatting with him for a few minutes yesterday. I do know the problems that I and many other people are having with delivery robots and rental e-scooters.
I did fully understand your point. I was considering the micro and macro aspects of the event and find the code compliance officers response entirely predictable because these individuals are not trained to think, have no sense of immediacy nor do they utilize reasonable antennae, particularly regarding the scooter and delivery robot issues. They are schooled to soft peddle this situation as it is with the scooters. If the city considered some of these overly long wrought our issues as an engineering problem needing to be corrected, we would not be in the maddening and inexplicable eternal loop. The City… Read more »
If byers and erickson are at pink dot I’ll pass.
Of course Ericson would be there. He claims to work for planned Parenthood which is subsidized by the US government But most of the time he is just swishing around the city.
Pride robot replacing low wage workers is peak late stage capitalism
Corporate performative pandering to the LGBTQetc community enabled by self proclaimed progressives. Rather embarrassing.
Especially when Ericksson and Shyne passed the minimum wage law. Make it so expensive to hire somebody and just use some robot.
Well said
Well said Steve, they should put in mothballs for a multitude of reasons, or sent to factories where they might make sense. At the least, keep them off residential streets where pedestrians, seniors and children need to evade them onto the parkway or the street.
When are they revealing the trans delivery robot, and, of course, the inevitable drag queen delivery robot?
Now we’re indoctrinating the robots! This is just the latest thing to be outraged over, add it to the list under the color of the sky today, and above what Erickson and Shyne wore to the last city council meeting. It’s an outrage I tell ya!!!
Ok, I’ll say it: GOOD GRIEF!
Is this The Onion?
This is getting so ridiculous.