Disinfecting robots roam Mount Vernon ISD

MOUNT VERNON, Texas (KLTV) - When Mount Vernon ISD students and staff go home and go to sleep, the robots come out.

Build With Robots partnered with KLC Video Security to bring the ‘bots to Mount Vernon ISD. Breezy One Robots are worker integrated robots that use automation to disinfect 10,000 square feet in less than one hour, in comparison to 10 people disinfecting manually.

Once deployed, the robots map the district.

“Once it’s mapped, were also going to do efficacy testing,” co-owner of KLC Video security Bill King said. “We’re going to put out platelets throughout each room and each area of bacteria, and then we’re going to fog. And we’re going to look at the kill rate to make sure it gets 100% kill rate wherever were doing the fogging.”

The robots disinfect all three campuses 10 times per month and are deployed between 5:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. They started trials in September and officially approved the usage of the robots in the November Mount Vernon school board meeting. Mount Vernon is the first school district in Texas to use these robots.

“We are anticipating it to help not only reduce the number of absences related to COVID, but also to help reduce the number of absences we experience with the common cold and flu as well,” Mount Vernon ISD superintendent Jason McCullough said. “Right now we have zero cases of COVID. We never had a high number, but currently we have zero, and it’s been that way for about three weeks.”

McCullough said custodians jobs remain the same, but now they are not manually disinfecting which Build With Robots Director of Business Development Meredith Barton said removes the manual application of disinfectant for those custodians using backpack sprayers.

“Typically when you use a backpack sprayer, you want to have PPE equipment on because you’re in the area that’s being sprayed,” Barton said. “The great thing about the robots is the custodial staff pushes the button, the robot goes by itself and does the spraying, and then it dissipates within 20 minutes, and then its safe for anyone to enter.”

KLC Video will be on campus to deploy the robots and monitor what McCullough said are “Roomba-like” robots.

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