In the community of Nuevo Chirimoto, in Peru, the main economic activity is the production and sale of coffee, manually made mainly by families, with a lot of work and without much technological intervention. To facilitate the process, increase production and guarantee greater safety, a team of local students created a way to mechanize the work, with a machine that removes the pulp of the coffee, shakes it, cleans it deeply with pure water and takes it out, ready for drying. The innovation was a finalist in the 10th edition of Solve for Tomorrow in the country.
The students were 15 years old and were in their 3rd year, which is the year of admission at this type of school, “Colegios de Alto Rendimiento”- COAR (High-performance Schools). When teacher James Padilla, who is the mediator of this project, entered the classes to invite everyone to participate in Solve for Tomorrow, the student Angeli Tatiana decided to form her group with colleagues. “Many have family farmers who work with coffee and the grandfather of two students suffered from osteoarthritis. So, they wanted to find a way to prevent him from getting sick and allow him to continue working, which is what he wants,” recalls the educator.
The granddaughters of this potential “client” are Tatiana and Katty, who achieved the participation of an important ally: their uncle, also a farmer and an industrial engineer. The family estimates that the grandfather suffers from these pains due to decades of work in the fields, with poor posture and great physical effort. “We not only saw the need in the family, but in the entire town. We concluded that a machine that mechanized coffee washing could be beneficial for the entire community, since they could share it or even rent it to other farmers who do not have the possibility to buy one of their own,” Padilla sees.
According to the educator, the statistics managed in the project show about 500 producer families in the region, and 30 of them were interviewed, due to time and internet limitations. “We saw that the elderly stay in the locality, with agriculture, while the younger ones sometimes migrate to larger cities to study or work. When they return to the community, they no longer dedicate themselves to this field. So, our purpose was helping these grandparents,” he declares.
Design thinking helped structure the project
James Padilla is a Technology teacher at the school. With a background in Production Systems Engineering, he began teaching in 2017. Today he teaches robotics, mobile applications, graphic design and Arduino, among others. The teacher highlights that at school they already study STEM methodologies and especially in third grade, the five phases of the project trail are indicated: Empathy, Definition, Ideation, Prototype and Test. “They wanted to directly make the machine and I told them that this was only the fourth step. So, we advanced through each stage at its own time,” he recalls. For him, following this path was important to dedicate the necessary time to the search and so that they could focus not only on the result, but also develop critical thinking and other skills while carrying out the investigation.
I think that experience has taught us the importance of the ease of use, beyond following an initial design to the letter. We cannot think about the machine in isolation, but on the day-to-day life of those who are going to use it. use, Padilla believes.
The allied uncle had already made a similar machine before but it was very large, industrial and they changed this too. “With this reference in mind and the uncle’s help, the students improved the prototype and made a smaller one so that it can be transported in a normal van,” he explains. The ally was also important in informing specifications of the necessary materials for construction.
With mechanization, washing is much faster
Farmers can pour coffee into a funnel-shaped part of the prototype. With a motor attached, the machine spins the coffee, moving the poles and propellers inside. The movement, together with the impact of the water that comes out in a jet, guarantees effective washing of the fruit. See more details of this operation in the video below:
Finally, testing the capacity of the machine, they were able to estimate that it can wash a thousand kilos per hour. Manually, this process takes approximately four times as long. “With the machine you also have much more control, because it is manually washed in a mesh where coffee beans are inevitably lost,” adds the educator.
The prototype was delivered to the students’ family, who supported the development from the beginning and even purchased all the necessary materials. “It is a solution that is not very expensive, compared to the options available on the market. All we spent was 3,200 soles, or 845 dollars,” he reports. The teacher explains that in other countries, a machine like this costs around 6,000 soles (or 1,600 dollars) and in Peru it is very difficult to find the equipment for sale. The initial investment pays off over time: the estimated useful life is 20 years and it can also be rented to other producers, since coffee washing is usually not a daily activity. The students’ family is already renting the equipment to other nearby farmers.
The teacher adds that it was important to have knowledge in Economics: “We think that there is a sales potential for these machines, since there is a boom in the coffee market. We did research and saw that we would be able to sell about 100 machines per month.”
The team of students still has two years of school left until the end of compulsory schooling and they continue with the goal of perfecting this project. “What we wanted now is to extend the interviews to more people and the mayor has told us that he is going to place an antenna nearby so that the students have internet and can take the surveys more quickly and online,” he says. Furthermore, according to him, the machine can be changed to meet different needs, in size and capacity, for example, and can be used in other countries, such as Brazil and Colombia, which are also prominent in this production.
According to the teacher, reaching Solve for Tomorrow finalists serves as an inspiration for the school community. “Many are excited to be able to apply this year with more projects. The program gives us more than we sometimes imagine, especially teenagers,” he says.
