CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Imagine R2-D2 rolling around Bank of America Stadium zapping COVID-19 and other germs on everything from helmets to toilets with a high-intensity ultraviolet light, the way Luke Skywalker would zap a stormtrooper with a blaster.
That’s basically what the Carolina Panthers are doing to ensure as much as possible a virus-free environment as the stadium prepares on Sunday to host fans for the first time this season.
The Xenex LightStrike Robot, billed as a “germ-zapping robot," looks a lot like the R2-D2 robot from “Star Wars." The Panthers purchased three of them early in the pandemic -- at a cost of a little over $100,000 each -- to help assure players, coaches and other employees that they would be working in a safe environment.