IT Sligo SciFest Winner is First in the International INTEL Science Fair and has an Asteroid Named after him
Aaron Hannon was the winner of the SciFest competition in May 2017 and won the Science Foundation Ireland Best Project Award for his project . His project was on a unique assisted shaving device. EnableArm is an assisted shaving device for people with limited hand dexterity. He then went on to represent our region in the SciFest 2017 National Final which he also won in November 2017 competing against other regional winners from competitions across Ireland.
As Ireland’s national winner Aaron went on to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With more than 1,800 students from 81 countries and for a prize fund totalling $4m, Intel ISEF is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition.
Aaron was named as the winner of a first in his category – “embedded systems” winning a prize worth $3,000. Not only this but Aaron will also have an Asteroid named after him.
His device was inspired by his late grandfather who lived with limited hand dexterity following a stroke, and Hannon’s creation would have enabled his grandfather to shave, despite his condition. The device is user-friendly and was created through his technical research to develop the electrical, physical and software aspects. Aaron used a mannequin head to test the device and developed an Android app to allow greater ease of use.
Many congratulations as well to IT Sligo’s Dr Bill Crowe and Dr MacDara Bodeker, the IT Sligo SciFest coordinators, for organising the 2017 SciFest event at IT Sligo. Also congratulations to his school (St Muredach’s College, Co Mayo) and to his teacher Kevin Boyle.
Aaron is currently studying Engineering at Trinity College Dublin.
