Responding to a call for help from a Japanese station, Panasonic produces a device that specializes in picking up AirPods from the train tracks

Panasonic is working with one of Japan’s largest railroads to tackle a new problem that has arisen in recent years. That’s an increase in the drop of wireless headphones on railroad tracks.

It is very dangerous for passengers to accidentally drop headphones on the rails, because many people panic on their own or ask the station staff to jump off the rails to get them. Not to mention that there were some customers who had “plagued”, forcing the station to pay off because the headphones were damaged after being picked up and returned.

Previously, the Tokyo branch of East Japan railway company JR East, said there were 950 crashes crashing wireless headphones on 78 train stations in Tokyo in the third quarter of this year. And the number of dropped headphones in fact seems to be 4 times higher.

Communication sticks are difficult to pick up small objects like wireless headphones.

Currently, station attendants often use a “magic hand” tool that works in a forceps fashion to pick up larger objects that fall on rails, like hats or smartphones. But the gravel between the rails makes smaller objects – such as an AirPod Pro headset – very difficult to pick up. That means employees sometimes have to wait until the last train is over before picking up.

The new headphone pump has been put into use.

To solve the above problem, Panasonic teamed up with JR East to develop a vacuum cleaner-style device, which was supposed to be much more suitable for picking up lost headphones. You can see it in the image above.

The device is being tested at Ikebukuro Station, a central station north of Tokyo, and early results suggest it works much faster than traditional tongs.

Refer to The Verge