Digital X-Ray Glasses, Noise Cancelling Moving Space And Dynamic Smart Pens

Ingenious students from universities around the world that have built a series of world-changing inventions are set to pitch their ideas in the Red Bull Basement Global Final this March.

Incredible innovations such as Digital X-Ray Glasses, Noise Cancelling Moving Space and Dynamic Smart Pens are set to be pitched to global visionaries including Kudzi Chikumbu, a leader in community and creators at one of the world’s biggest entertainment short form video platforms, Gener8 Founder and CEO Sam Jones, World Wide Generation Founder and CEO Manjula Lee, Intel’s Gaming and eSports General Manager Marcus Kennedy and Senior Vice President, Marketing Operations at NTT Ltd, Ceri McCall.

The 44 teams from 43 different countries will take part in three immersive days at the Global Final in Istanbul on March 25-27, with workshops and mentorship sessions available as well as access to some of the world’s most innovative thought leaders.

The tech solutions envisioned by the Red Bull Basement finalists centre around eight sustainability categories inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Body & Mind, Career, Clean Water, Climate Action, Education, Empowerment, Energy and Smart Cities.

The finalists’ ideas include Noise Cancelling Moving Space, created by a team of students at Japan’s Mie University that reduces the effect of external sounds like trains and traffic, a dynamic smart pen from New Zealand’s Media Design School that converts handwriting into a digital format while also collecting medical and mood data and digital X-ray glasses, that will be pitched by two sisters from the University of Johannesburg, that allows the wearer to instantly perform and transmit x-ray scans.

South African twin sisters Matlhogonolo and Masego Mphahlele, who are pitching their idea of digital X-ray glasses said: “Our journey started in 2019 when one of our teammates was injured playing football. Seeing her in pain whilst we were waiting in the hospital for her to get an X-ray made us realise that there must be a quicker solution and so the idea of our digital X-ray glasses was born.

“We can’t wait to pitch our project to the judges and if we are successful hopefully we can take X-ray technology to a new level, giving hospitals access to this innovative tech whilst reducing the amount of time patients have to wait to have a scan.”

Other finalists include a solution from a team of Italian students who are looking to improve recycling statistics with a smart trash bin that automatically recognises and sorts waste, starry light tiles, set to be pitched by a team of students from Loughborough University, that illuminate when stepped upon and a portable drinking bottle that sterilises water using sunlight to provide clean water anywhere, anytime, developed by the team from Brazil.

Teiba Ahmed and Amy Dring, students at Loughborough University, who will pitch their idea of starry light tiles said: “Our idea was sparked in part from recent news on Sarah Everard, women’s safety at night and from a women’s group in Battersea Park called Wandsworth Angels which Teiba has been involved with. They created a petition to add more street lighting in Battersea Park, however, due to wildlife, the park cannot be lit overnight.

“Therefore as a solution we designed unobtrusive pedestrian walkway tiles that activate built-in LEDs when stepped upon, lighting up the walker’s path without leaving a negative environmental or social impact.

“Winning Red Bull Basement would give us an absolutely incredible opportunity to take our design to the next stage and so we’re excited to pitch the concept to the judges at the Global Final.”

Students from past editions of Red Bull Basement have gone on to create a global impact. In 2020, Brunel University’s Joanna Power and Paramveer Bhachu designed and built an innovative water-saving device, the Lava Aqua X portable electric washing machine.

In 2019, winners Sophie Bolzer and Nadine Szentivanyi from Austria, created Audvice, helping companies unlock the power of voice messages to share information more effectively across their teams, partners and customers.