The Panthers are the country’s first professional football team to use the Xenex LightStrike robotXENEX
The NFL Panthers are "deploying three $125,000 'coronavirus-killing' robots" as part of COVID-19 precautions the team is taking before welcoming fans back to Bank of America Stadium for Sunday’s game against the Cardinals, according to Hannah Smoot of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The Panthers are the country’s "first professional football team to use" the the Xenex LightStrike robot, a "powerful xenon UV-ray device." The device launched in '11 and had been used "primarily in hospitals and other health care facilities, including Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic." The LightStrike robot is "different from the UV-light wands and lamps you might seen in the store," as it is "roughly 4,000 times more intense than other powerful UV-light products." According to Xenex, it can "destroy the virus that causes COVID-19 on surfaces in two minutes." Panthers employees are "using the robot in enclosed areas like locker rooms, meeting rooms, offices, restrooms, suites and work-out areas," but that "doesn’t include other areas in the stadium like the concourse, where other cleaning methods are used." Bank of America Stadium seats 74,867 people, allowing the team "roughly 5,240 fans into the stadium" Sunday, but the Panthers "haven’t said exactly how many people they’ll allow in" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/1).
