At the beginning of March 2020, much of the United States of America entered a period of lock down in response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus. As COVID-19 cases increased, it wasn’t long before nearly the whole country, along with the rest of the world was in a state of quarantine and social distancing became the new norm. Now, nearly three months later, the world is approaching a turning point. Some regions have seen a decline in new COVID -19 cases thanks to vigilant distancing practices, sanitation efforts, and the wearing of protective masks. Because of this, there has been a gradual lifting of distancing regulations. The world is slowly opening up to the public, while still keeping safety advisements in place.

There seem to be several ways people are embracing the idea of venturing out into the public again. Many are all for it and ready to fully go back to the way life was in a post coronavirus world. Many are being cautious, staying local, and just seeing friends and family in small gatherings. Many are still to concerned to leave the safety of their isolation. Whatever level of comfort you find yourself in there is one unifying idea, any public spaces need to be constantly disinfected to provide a safe environment. For small businesses like restaurants, medical and professional offices, even schools, this means having a dedicated maintenance program to clean any susceptible surfaces. But for large spaces like theaters, sports arenas, hospitals, airports, and more, having to manually disinfect to meet the current standards is a time consuming and costly process. Eagle Hawk, a drone company based out of Buffalo, NY has come up with a solution.

Both natives of Buffalo, Patrick Walsh and Will Schulmeister founded Eagle Hawk in 2016 after realizing that their love for drones, technology, and entrepreneurship was the key to their next big adventure. They built a small, but dedicated team of engineers, entrepreneurs, data specialists, and of course FAA licensed drone pilots. As explained on their website, using the highest-rated, custom equipment, “EagleHawk is the leading provider of information services using drone and thermal imaging and sensor technology. We specialize in providing solutions for inspection of roofs, bridges, solar panels, building envelopes, facades, district heating systems, and more. The goal for our services is to help commercial clients reduce risks and provide a proactive approach for maintenance of these assets.”

At the onset of the coronavirus, Eagle Hawk saw it was time to refocus their drone capabilities. “As many companies, we were like shoot, what do we do, but luckily we’re a team of engineers and we have a lot of ingenuity and we thought how can we be part of the solution how can we help,” Patrick said. For some time now drones have proven to be very successful for spraying agricultural chemicals over large areas of land. A concept that could also be applied to an indoor situation like a theater or stadium. Eagle Hawk decided to design a drone system that could efficiently spray indoor space to combat the spread of COVID-19. A specially designed drone flies around an indoor space, or an open one like a sports stadium, and sprays every surface with a disinfectant. The chemicals are housed in a tank that rests on the ground, feeding the liquid through a hose attached to the drone. Another drone flies a bit below the spraying drone to make sure the hose doesn’t become entangled and that every surface is thoroughly sprayed.

All flight operations and chemicals being used are approved by the FAA, EPA, and NY DEC. “We’re using a sensor that allows us to navigate indoors safely so we can detect cables as small as a half an inch that allows us to fly around the nets and do different things like that,” Patrick said. The treatments are strong enough to stop the spread of the virus without causing any surface damage. “This technology reduces the need for human exposure, [minimizes the] costs of P.P.E., and can save a great deal of time and resources,” stated Will. However, they quickly learned that there are certain standards that need to be met for effectiveness. “The biggest thing is making sure you apply enough product that it stays wet long enough to be able to kill the virus,” Patrick explained, “so that’s why we couldn’t use off the shelf drones and we had to develop our own solution because we were finding we couldn’t meet those wet times with the technology that existed today.”

Eagle Hawk has already run three successful trials with its disinfecting drone system. The first test took place in Syracuse, NY at the Oncenter War Memorial Arena, an indoor stadium that is home to a wide range of events. The second test was done at the home of the Buffalo Bisons Triple A baseball team, Sahlen Field, an outdoor stadium. The final test was held inside the Key Bank Center, also in Buffalo, where the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres play. The drones are able to entirely disinfect the seats, ground, handrails, doorknobs, and any other surface in a matter of 1-2 hours. To complete a job of this magnitude manually could take all day, require a massive team to get it done, and cost a fortune. This isn’t to say that cleaning crews will become obsolete and jobs will be lost. Crews will still be needed for detailed work like bathroom, kitchen, and office spaces. But, without a speedy way to sanitize a large place, having steady business hours would be unreliable.

There is no argument that we are entering a new state of times. The world will forever be changed by the coronavirus. We will adapt, and using technology like drones will help us to do just that. “As a team, we just kind of took a step back and said, ‘How can we help be part of the solution going forward with COVID-19′,” Patrick said. “We’re just excited to be able to be part of the potential solution.”

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