This has been the subject of much tinkering at my house. I think I've come up with a design, but about the time I thought it through
enough to start building, I lost my workspace. Long story.
But, the basic design is a set of rollers, set up so that they turn at different speeds. Each roller is wrapped with a silicone mat. Finding the right mat takes some trial and error. Some of the ones sold as hotpads work, but the texture is the crucial part. You need a texture that will grip the shells, but won't hold the debris after the shells have cracked. There's a store near me that has these garlic peelers that work perfectly:
https://www.vanillabeanonline.com/store/p288/Garlic_Peeler.html
They're only $3 a piece, but the shipping costs more than the peelers.
Anyway, choose the direction of the wrap so that the rollers aren't shoving debris under each other's edges. They need to turn so that the surfaces facing each other are moving in the same direction, but at different enough speeds that they rub the shell apart. I'm guessing a 1:2 ratio would work well, but I haven't tested it. I was looking for the right kinds of gears to use when I lost my workspace. I hope to pick this
project back up next summer.
I have tried using these same sheets on something like a grain grinder, but it was harder to keep the plates steady enough, and the motion if the auger resulted in a lot of debris being pushed under the edges, prying the sheets off their plates. But, it did crack the shells without crushing the seeds, so I was definitely on to something.
This would also work to remove the hulls from various grains. I know the grinder model worked to dehull several cups of lambsquarters seed before it started having problems.