Cleaning robot at Texas Medical Center hotel helps fight off coronavirus
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Imagine walking into your hotel room and licking your television remote control. It sounds pretty disgusting and most likely will end in a trip to the doctor, right?
The Westin in Houston's Medical Center doesn't advise people to do this, but they said if you really wanted to, you could. That's because they believe their rooms are just that clean.
"We are the first hotel in the country to implement a UV-light germ zapping robot here at the hotel," said VP of operations at Pearl Hospitality Archit Sanghbi.
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Yes, a robot is now cleaning hotel rooms, and these two robots are already hard at work to get rid of germs.
Here is how it works:
"So, LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots create broad spectrum, high intensity ultraviolet light," said Dr. Sarah Simmons of Xenex Disinfection Services. "Ultraviolet light is able to damage the DNA and cell walls of bacteria, and essentially our light is shredding the DNA bacteria."
The hotel said the robots are a necessary step in its cleaning process and make a big difference. The entire process lasts about two minutes and the robot is placed in several strategic spots in the room. It raises up to about six feet and turns on the brightest light ever. That's what kills the germs.
You might be wondering: 'Will it kill the coronavirus?' The answer is yes, but only certain strains.
"This technology has been tested against MERS-CoV, which is another coronavirus and we are effective," said Simmons.
