Solution for Sports Stadiums During COVID-19 Pandemic

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

A drone that can spray disinfectant to quickly kill the coronavirus has been developed for sports arenas and stadiums. Those places are shut down because of the pandemic, but the new service will come in handy when they reopen.

The US startup EagleHawk specializing in drones that use thermal cameras to detect roof leaks adapted its operations to solve COVID-19 challenges. The company removed the thermal cameras from its drones and replaced them with a device that sprays disinfectant.

The disinfectant is stored in a tank on the ground and pumped to the drone through an attached hose. A second drone flies near the disinfecting drone to hold the hose up to prevent it from getting caught on a seat or other objects, according to syracuse.com.

The system can be used in any large outdoor or indoor facility. The company is marketing it to colleges, and league sports teams as a way to make their facilities safe for fans.

The system was tested at various stadiums. According to the company, the drones can quickly disinfect every seat as it flies around the facilities, piloted by an operator. Having employees walk around and spray thousands of seats after each game would be expensive and so time-consuming it would be impractical.

Spraying with a drone also is safer than having employees manually clean the facilities.