Design Thinking for the Development of an Affordable Pea Sheller: Addressing Co-Design in Rural Areas

Manual pea shelling is a labor-intensive task facing small-scale farmers in rural areas, requiring substantial physical effort and limiting productivity. This study employed a Design Thinking methodology to co-design an affordable, automatic pea sheller addressing the specific needs of resource-constrained farmers. The methodology comprised five phases: empathizing with farmers through interviews, defining technical specifications from user requirements and benchmarking analysis, ideating preliminary concepts through collaborative brainstorming, prototyping using 3D-printed food-grade materials, and testing with end-users under real operating conditions. The developed sheller features counter-rotating rollers operating at optimized speed with dual compartments for grain and shell separation. Experimental validation demonstrated good extraction efficiency with minimal grain damage, while field testing confirmed substantial time reduction compared to manual shelling and strong user acceptance. The fully 3D-printable design enables affordable, customizable production suitable for small-scale operations, demonstrating how user-centered co-design can create accessible agricultural technology that addresses both technical performance and socioeconomic constraints in rural communities.