Robot workers now are sanitizing the AT&T Center.
Team now employing robots that use UV light to zap pathogens inside the AT&T Center
The Spurs have new teammates — robots whose role is to zap germs, including the coronavirus, inside the AT&T Center.
The team purchased two Lightstrike robots from San Antonio-based Xenex Disinfection Services Inc. to kill pathogens in the arena with pulses of ultraviolet rays.
The Spurs are the first NBA team to deploy the $100,000plus Xenex robots but not the first professional sports franchise to do so. In October, the NFL’S Carolina Panthers announced they’re using Xenex equipment at their stadium.
“Our goal is to have the AT&T Center be the cleanest, safest arena in the NBA, and the Lightstrike robot is an invaluable tool in helping us achieve this distinction,” said Casey Heverling, vice president and general manager of the AT&T Center.
The robots arrived Dec. 8, and are in use throughout the AT&T Center “disinfecting meeting rooms, locker rooms, reha
bilitation areas, suites, restrooms, offices, concession areas and elevators.”
The Spurs hoped to welcome fans back to the AT&T Center on Jan. 1, but scrapped those plans because of spiking COVID-19 cases.
Lightstrike robots use broadspectrum, high-intensity ultraviolet light to destroy pathogens. Once started, the barrel-sized robot scans the room to ensure people aren't present and then raises its round head to nearly 6 feet, exposing the pulsing light.
The devices clean rooms in five minutes, Xenex says.
The Spurs' purchase is “really emblematic of how the world wants disinfected places to go,” Xenex CEO Morris Miller said. “If you look across the NBA, a lot of players on a lot of teams have … ended up with COVID, and the Spurs are taking that extra measure to prevent that from happening.”
Deploying the robots, he said, is another step toward eventually allowing fans to attend games in person.
Privately held Xenex experienced exponential growth in 2020, with sales skyrocketing 600 percent due largely to the pandemic, Miller said.
Over the year, the firm's customer base expanded from primarily hospitals to other businesses and organizations that need regular sanitization, such as restaurants, hotels, schools and offices.
The company currently is in talks with teams from the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, Miller said. In September, the San Antonio International became the first airport in the world to deploy the technology.
Xenex has expanded its staff and facilities to support the growth. The company currently employs 140, up from 125 in September.
Late last year, Xenex expanded into a new, 22,000-squarefoot facility off Wurzbach Parkway near the airport.
And in October, the company opened a second robot-manufacturing line with publicly traded Astronics in Illinois. The deal more than doubles the firm's production capacity.
The Spurs are “a very unique organization; a very forward thinking organization,” Miller said. “And the fact that they're from San Antonio and we're from San Antonio, I think it's a really a positive reflection on the city and what San Antonio can do.”