In places like Pingxi and Shifen, known for their sky lantern traditions, weekends often draw crowds of tourists eager to launch lanterns and make wishes. But the fallen remnants of these lanterns have become a burden on the surrounding forests. Many locals now collect the debris for recycling, exchanging it with shops for a bit of cash—a way to clean up the mountains while earning some extra income.

Some lanterns, however, end up tangled high in the treetops, making them difficult to retrieve by hand. To address this, Huafan University teamed up with the Pingxi commercial district to develop drones equipped with grappling claws designed to recover lanterns stuck in trees. While the drones have proven effective, the operational costs still outweigh the benefits. Locals are urging the government to fund further drone research, hoping the technology can be more widely adopted in the future—balancing environmental protection with economic opportunity, and ensuring the long-term health of the mountains.

 以下為中文對照

無人機助回收 天燈殘骸無所遁形

以天燈文化聞名的平溪、十分等地，每逢假日常湧入大量遊客放天燈祈福，但掉落的天燈殘骸成了山林的負擔。不少當地居民撿拾天燈回收，並向店家換錢，不僅淨山也能賺取外快。

但有的天燈墜落後高掛樹梢，難以靠人力回收，因此鄰近的華梵大學與平溪商圈合作，研發結合吊爪的無人機，用來回收卡在樹上的殘骸。雖然現在可以成功操控無人機回收天燈，但實際經費仍不敷成本，地方人士希望政府能提供經費來支持無人機的研究，期盼未來能落實執行，才能兼顧經濟與環保，維護山林永續。

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