After a formal review, the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has officially revoked the first-place award and withdrawn the prize and certificate from the project titled "Smart waste classification system integrating artificial intelligence and sound sensors", developed by a group of students from Hung Yen Province.

MoET recently issued a decision to cancel the first-place award from the 2024–2025 National Science and Engineering Fair for middle and high school students.

According to the decision, the first-place award for the project in the field of embedded systems, submitted by the Hung Yen Department of Education and Training, is nullified. The ministry also ordered the return of the prize and certificate.

The Hung Yen Department of Education and Training has been instructed to take disciplinary action against individuals or groups involved in the violation and to report to the ministry by April 30. The ministry’s decision did not specify the reason for the revocation.

Previously, as reported by VietNamNet, the project by students Vu Ngoc Anh and Vu Dinh Dang Hien from Nguyen Sieu High School in Hung Yen had won one of 12 first prizes awarded by MoET at the national closing and awards ceremony on March 24, 2025.

However, shortly after the competition ended, numerous online users claimed that the project closely resembled a product developed by Indonesian expert Samuel Alexander, which had been shared publicly on Hackaday.io.

The student group's system included key components such as a microcontroller integrated with a sound sensor, a motor to open the trash bin lid, rotating motors for different waste compartments, and the mechanical structure comprising the bin, containers, and supporting frame.

The smart trash bin was designed to analyze the sound of waste materials hitting the bin’s surface to classify them into categories such as paper, plastic, metal, and others. Once identified, the system would rotate the internal compartments and open the corresponding bin to collect the item.

At the time, a representative of the MoET’s General Department of Secondary Education stated, “This is an open competition, and post-event evaluation is part of the organizer’s responsibility. If any violations are found, MoET and the competition’s organizing committee will strictly handle them according to the contest regulations and relevant education policies.”

Thanh Hung