THE ROBOTS ARE AMONG US! BEARING SNACKS!

When James Cameron was mapping out the details of his post-Skynet robot apocalypse for the Terminator movies, he didn't bother making the droids cute.

- SCOTT GARCEAU

He made them scary.Meanwhile, the director who went with cute was another techno-geek, George Lucas, who packed 1977's Star Wars with cheerily chirping ambulatory characters like R2D2.

But maybe that's how the robots eventually get us: through adorable delivery.

You'll see them quite often in Miami and elsewhere now, especially near the Brickell and Miami Beach area, rolling down the sidewalks, looking like picnic baskets on wheels. They're how many Uber Eats get delivered nowadays. People don't look twice to see a midget 'bot roll past them on the walkways. (It was only a matter of time before the world became like the crowded streets of Mos Eisley, where people and droids share pedestrian space.) At first food delivery robots seem like a godsend in places with heavy traffic. They're seemingly safer than bikes and motorcycles, though they can seem a little naïve. One robot in Miami was plowed over by a Brightline metro train, and they sometimes get stuck at curbs. They're not very fast, but they are cute. And they're learning.