The National Science and Engineering Fair Competition program is organized by Ministry of education for all STEM centers across Ethiopia. The 8th National Science and Engineering Fair 2023 was held at AASTU from November 13-17. Two hundred eleven students took part in the competition from all STEM centers across Ethiopia. Ashenafi Mengistu from Adama Secondary School representing ASTU STEM center presented an innovative project titled, “Intelligent Bluetooth Control Wheelchair” and ranked 2nd in the competition. Ashenafi was awarded core i7 laptop as a prize for his achievement from the Ministry of Education.

It is an intelligent Bluetooth controlled wheelchair which can be operated on user’s voice commands, hand gestures as well as touch buttons. The wheelchair enables disabled persons, who continuously rely on someone to move from one place to another, to move on their own.