Four students from the state of Ceará in Brazil found a way to keep their friends at school during the cashew nut harvest season. Ceará is a state in Northeast Brazil, home to a majority of the country’s cashew trees.

With the harvesting seasons spanning from summer to spring, many of the region’s families would spend time hand-picking the fruit and the nuts. Students that belong in classrooms would also skip school to help their families.

Understanding the task

“The process of separating the cashew nut from the fruit is not only slow but also very tiring and difficult to do by hand. You have to twist and pull the nuts out from the fruits completely manually,” said the students. “Many girls and boys of our age would miss class or drop out to help with the harvesting in order to contribute to the family income. We wanted to create a machine that speeds up the separation process without damaging the fruit – and keep our friends at school!”

The students interviewed the farmers and even tried separating the nuts from the fruit themselves. They learned that the existing equipment for cashew nut separation was expensive and doing it all by hand was neither time-efficient nor effective.

Efforts to build a sustainable society

Incorporating their research findings with STEM knowledge, they developed an easy-to-use apparatus that separates multiple cashew nuts from the fruit in a single push of a pedal. “The first prototype that peels three fruits at once was a success. We are now updating it to work with up to six fruits,” said the students.

Recognized for their creative idea to improve the well-being of society, the four students won Brazil’s Samsung Solve for Tomorrow. While receiving the first-place award in the nationwide competition gave them enormous thrill and joy, they say getting involved in the project was extremely meaningful as they could contribute to building a sustainable and more effective society. The memories the students made throughout the project will stay with them and motivate them to create more positive changes in the world.