Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium to Deploy Disinfecting Drones

Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium plans to use a pair of drones to sanitize the building in a move that will reportedly reduce clean times by 95 percent. 

The drones will disinfect fan seating, handrails, and glass partitions using nontoxic products. They will be put to work after the Atlanta Falcons play the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 11, with a third drone as backup.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) claims to be the first professional sports stadium to use these cleaning drones, which are made by Lucid Drone Technologies. It considered the use of drones for cleaning purposes prior to the pandemic, but COVID-19 "accelerated the process."

The drones use "electrostatic spraying nozzles for even distribution of medical-grade disinfecting chemicals including an inhibitor that prevents harmful bacteria and virus to adhere to surfaces without leaving a residue," stadium officials say. "In addition, their unique, wrap-around effect helps distribute the disinfectant to hard-to-reach areas."

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As The Atlantic notes, super-charged cleaning protocols shouldn't lull people into a false sense of security, since COVID-19 mostly spreads via person-to-person airborne transmission. As such, mask-wearing and social distancing will be enforced at MBS.

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Sherin Shibu is a junior at Columbia University majoring in English Literature. She took a nontraditional path to junior year, taking two gap years to work as a fellow at Business Insider and GovLoop, among others. She's written about everything from cybersecurity and virtual reality to business strategy and leadership; she's a versatile writer with a track record of success. At PCMag, she hopes to cover the news with accuracy and style, growing as a writer as she works as a News Fellow.

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