marchapril2021 - 15

MAINTENANCE
Kokesh said it was by happenstance
that he came across Xenex, which are
also based in San Antonio, when United
Airlines was demoing the LightStrike.
" And I happened to stumble across
it. I called my boss and the director and
they came by and looked at it. Once we
saw it in action, and once we saw the
results of all the testing that had been
done, worldwide accredited testing, we
were the first airport to purchase one, put
it into action and had no problems with
it, " recounted Kokesh.
To get started with the robot, Hart
said training is part of the pre-purchase
and Xenex will walk through the facility
with the airport officials, identifying
rooms and areas to be treated. After
developing a plan of when and where
to use the LightStrike, staff are trained
on how to operate the robot.
" Each robot reports wirelessly to a
cloud. Airport officials know where the
robot is, who's running it and for how
long. They can look and see, gosh, that
third shift they're supposed to be doing
ten rooms and they're only getting to
two, what's going on? Do they need
more training? There are some really
smart features, technology features so that
the robot is able to let the users know or
the managers know, to ensure you're
maximizing utilization, " Hart said.
Kokesh said that the only catch with
the LightStrike is that it needs to be
utilized in areas without people, simply
because of how bright the UV light is.
" It's not a dangerous machine, it
doesn't throw out radiation or anything
like that, but it does need to be done
in an area that is void of people. And
the reason is, it has a very, very bright
light. It's like looking at the sun. And
so, we've had to get real creative. We're
an airport and there's people here 24/7.
It gets busy, but we pick and choose our
areas according to how many people are
going to be there, " he said.
Kokesh said they'll put up screens
to shield passengers' eyes from the light
when operating the robot in a populated
area, but otherwise, they're opening up
areas as mucha s they can for the light to
hit when people aren't around.
" If we're in a restroom, we'll open up
all the stall doors so that the light gets
in there, " he said. " If we're in an office
environment, we'll take the telephone

handsets off and open the drawers so that
it has the most exposure. "

New Terminal,
New Tools
The Brownsville South Padre Island
International Airport (BRO) was in
the midst of opening their brand-new
terminal when the COVID-19 pandemic
struck. Thomas Edson, airport operations
and maintenance manager, BRO, said
they were halfway through building the
terminal when the pandemic gave them
pause as to how they could improve on
keeping the airport clean and safe for
passengers. It led them to the Tennant
T7AMR autonomous floor scrubber.
" We started doing some research. And
the Tennant f loor scrubber is I think
by far one of the best machines out
there. It's an incredible tool to use. And
everything is a tool and every tool has
a purpose. And as far as cleaning, that
allows our staff to do more than what
they could before. Because we've set the
route, you set it up, and it will clean the
f loors by itself while you're able to do
other tasks. And so that's been a very
big piece of keeping the entire terminal
clean, " Edson said.
BRO's now open new terminal
is about 92,000 square feet and to
clean that size by mopping would be
too much, Edson added. Additional
cleaning features BRO is utilizing
is bipolar ionization in all of their air
handling units and electrostatic backpack
sprayers - which they us to disperse both
a disinfectant solution and a probiotic
mixture.
" No one knew about the pandemic a
year ago. Who knows what the next one
will be? But I think the more detailed we
are disinfecting, the more that we can
do to prevent it and keep it clean, the
safer it'll be for passengers, " added Edson.
Edson continued that one of the
things that drew BRO to the T7AMR
is that the robot doesn't use any chemicals,
making it safe for passengers and saving
the airport money by not having to keep
solutions for it in stock.
David Strohsack, VP global
marketing, Tennant Company, said
that companies have been chasing the
idea of autonomous f loor cleaning for
decades. Twenty years ago, Tennant
made a robotic remote controlled

BRO's T7AMR
autonomous
floor scrubber.
BROWNSVILLE SOUTH PADRE
ISLAND INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT

cleaning machine that now, Strohsack
said, wouldn't fit in a garage. But in the
last handful of years, robots have become
more viable and their adoption rate is
increasing.
This, of course, has been helped by
the ever-advancing technology behind
these machines. Strohsack said that three
years ago, the technology was becoming
mature to the point to where it was
highly usable and delivering a return
on the investment for the customer.
" The way these machines work
is that they have a variety of sensors, "
Strohsack said. " They have an operating
system and in the case of Tennant, we
have a partner, Brain Corporation, so
we utilize Brain's operating system and
it's integrated with our f loor cleaning
machines. It's a fully integrated machine,
designed to be integrated. It's not an
aftermarket retrofitted kit. That's a really
important point. "
Tennant Company has deployed
more than 5,000 autonomous f loor
scrubbers and currently has three robots
in their line, including the T380AMR,
the T7AMR and the recently launched
T16AMR. With these three models,
Tennant has a robotic cleaning solution
for customers of all sizes. The robots have
a variety of modes, but most operators
opt to teach the machine themselves by
driving the robot on the desired route,
and then repeated autonomously.
" It allows the operator complete
control of the machine. And then once
the machine is operating, it has a variety
of reporting that it does for the operator
or for the owner, the people responsible
for cleaning, and that's one of the things
that a lot of our customers like the most.
It gives a proof of performance, " said
Strohsack.
Edson said that the T7AMR is the
first autonomous cleaning technology the

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