Local startup company AERAS will once again return to Churchill Downs to help sanitize the facility ahead of this weekend's Kentucky Derby by using a multi-copter drone to clean the exterior seating area of the complex that in prepandemic times drew more than 150,000 people for the annual horse racing event.
It's the second year in a row that AERAS will show off its capabilities at the facility, which has lifted its Covid-19 mitigation efforts for the first time in two years. In addition to sanitizing the seating areas, a feat AERAS has done locally inside PPG Paints Arena and at PNC Park, the startup will also use its drones to power wash portions of the exterior building facade at the racetrack, which is a new feature AERAS has been able to accomplish over the past 12 months.
"When we started in March-April of 2020, the first kind of vision was the development of this electrostatic drone that could fog sanitizers for large-scale sports and entertainment venues," AERAS Co-founder and CEO Eric Lloyd said. "We (then) came to the realization that we're not a sanitization company that uses a drone, we're truly a drone technology company that focuses on R&D to bring solutions to a variety of industries, and that's what kind of led us down the path of basically; if it can be done with a drone, that's the business that we're in."
As for its sanitization capabilities, Lloyd said the solution its drone uses is microbiostatic and that it is capable of creating a thin barrier that can coat "everything" above the seats and even underneath them.
"We're charging the particles that atomize with 160,000 kilovolts," Lloyd said. "So when you think about it; when it rains, the top of a picnic table gets wet but the underside does not. That's not the case here. Because those particles are so charged, they're seeking a grounded surface, so when the fog falls to the, let's say right under the surface, it then doesn't hit the ground. It actually wraps uniformly and gets complete coverage underneath as well as above (the seats)."
Lloyd said the startup currently employs 10 workers out of its Evans City headquarters. He said the startup is producing revenue, all of which is being reinvested back into the company, though he declined to disclose figures. AERAS has not taken on any forms of investment dollars in exchange for equity of the company, Lloyd said.
"Cleanliness is always noticed,” Mike Anderson, president of Churchill Downs Racetrack, said in a prepared statement. "This partnership with AERAS will help our team to deliver a memorable and superior guest experience at the Kentucky Derby and throughout the year at Churchill Downs."
Lloyd said he expects to have AERAS sanitize the whole seating area of Churchill Downs in under two hours come Thursday evening. He's then looking forward to partaking in this weekend's activities at the Kentucky Derby before he and his team head back home to Pittsburgh.
