Sanitizing Sporting Events: Pittsburgh-Based Drone Company Helping Bring Sports Back
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Eric Lloyd and Justin Melanson are two co-founders of Aeras - the only drone in the world specifically designed to form a protective barrier against COVID-19 and other bacterias in large venues.
Using patented electrostatic technology to spray cleaning solution approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.
"There's no drift," Eric Lloyd, one of the co-founders explained. "Nothing goes anywhere it's not supposed to. And it allows it to not just get the top of the picnic table wet but it wraps around the underbelly of it so everything is uniformly covered."
The Pittsburgh-based drone recently became the one and only to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly for cleaning purposes.
The vessel has since taken off and so have the job requests.
That includes the Pittsburgh Penguins and another massive client.
Royce Jones: Are these your derby hats?
Justin Melanson: Yes! We wouldn't wear these all the time, we'd look ridiculous.
The drone helped welcome more than 50,000 fans to a sanitized Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, the largest in-person sporting event since the pandemic began.
"We used a special solution that kills COVID for 90 days," said Justin Melanson, another one of the co-founders.
"It's on the EPA N-List. It took us 90 minutes to sanitize the entire Kentucky Derby and all of the outdoor seating there."
The drone was designed early in the pandemic to help bring people back together for large events safely.
Its creators are celebrating a mission accomplished.
"It was like going to your kid's wedding, baptism, championship game, where your kid hits the winning shot, everybody there was so happy," Melanson said.
Outside of cleaning, Aeras has also been used for de-icing arena seats after hockey games, power-washing, and soon could also be used for crop-dusting.
It would be a more efficient method because of its precision and lack of human error.
