LightStrike™ Germ-Zapping Robots™ Robots on the move to help fight COVID-19

In order to diminish the threat of the coronavirus, the Westin Houston Medical Center in Houston states to be the first hotel in the U.S. to use LightStrike™ Germ-Zapping Robots™ for the sanitization and disinfections of its guest rooms and common areas. The disinfection technology was developed by two local epidemiologists and is being provided by the Xenex Disinfection Services company. The Westin Houston Medical Center bought two of the robots and they are already at work inside the building.

The LightStrike robot is capable of quickly destroying microscopic bacteria and viruses that may be missed during the manual cleaning process. Operated by hotel staff, the robot uses pulsed xenon (a noble gas) to create intense broad-spectrum UV light, unlike older technologies that use mercury (toxic) bulbs to create continuous, single spectrum UV light. Peer-reviewed studies published have shown that the robots have decreased environmental infection rates between 50 and 100 percent.

Among their regular guests, the recently opened hotel also handles patients seeking medical treatment at the Texas Medical Center. Consequently, they have strict hygienic practices which include the removal of non-essential items.  In that respect, the housekeeping robots are a good example of how the travel industry’s innovations can be used during the pandemic.