Taiwanese Primary School Students Invent Prawn Deshelling Machine & Now I Owe Them My Life
A very im-prawn-tant device.
By Jasmine Chea — 16 Mar 2023, 01:01 PM
Most, if not all of us, have experienced the agonising process of having to peel whole prawns whenever we order a prawn dish.
And it takes AGES!
It's even worse when our hands get messy from peeling the shells and everything we touch gets dirty. :(
Don't mind us as we take our 50th trip to the washroom to clean our greasy fingers.
But those woes could be a thing of the past because three Taiwanese primary school students have invented a nifty automated prawn deshelling machine
According to TVBS News, the machine is the brainchild of the innovative trio who hail from Hsinchu, Taiwan.
They reportedly failed seven times while designing the device before coming up with a functional prototype: four times when modelling the device, and another three times during the 3D-printing stage.
Their project was supervised by their school teacher, however, the concept and structure of the machine were mainly from the three girls.
"Inventions often stem from mankind's laziness to do something, and they make life better for everyone," the teacher said.
So, how does the machine actually work?
Following the video report, the machine is operated by cogs, where the user has to first remove the head of the prawn, before feeding the rest of the body into the machine.
The machine will then proceed to split the shell of the prawn and automatically churn it out for easy removal by the user. It even removes the prawn's innards in the process.
The inspiration behind inventing the device came from one of the inventor's distaste for peeling prawn shells herself
However, she shared that the device was also designed for those who can't or have a harder time peeling prawns than the average person, namely children, elderly individuals, and the physically impaired.
"I don't like to peel prawns, and then I noticed that many physically disabled individuals aren't even able to do so. I hope that the device will be able to help them, and many others to save time and energy," she told reporters.
The trio will continue to refine and perfect the device as it will be submitted for a competition.
The teacher (second from left) and the three students who invented the machine.
Image via TVBS News (YouTube)Thank you, girls, for potentially making our prawn-eating experience easier in the near future!
