Earlier this year we reported on Red Bull Basement, a global innovation contest that was on the South African leg of its journey, looking for students who had impressive ideas and wanted to bring them to fruition.

The application phase has since closed, but now the local representatives have been chosen for the main event happening in December. The winners are Matlhogonolo and Masego Mphahlele (both pictured above), with the twin sisters set to virtually showcase their digital x-ray glasses at the global workshop taking place from 13th to 15th December.

“The twin sisters from Hammanskraal beat 125 other applicants in this year’s local application phase of Red Bull Basement. Red Bull Basement is a global initiative to discover new innovations by university students and showcase them to a global audience. The aim of the competition is to inspire innovative tech ideas that can drive positive change in their local communities,” explains Red Bull in a press release sent to Hypertext.

Unpacking how the digital X-Ray glasses came to be, the pair note that an unfortunate incident sparked the inspiration behind this idea.

“The twins’ idea for digital x-ray glasses first took seed in early 2019, when they were playing soccer. One of their teammates broke her leg and they accompanied her to the hospital. Unfortunately, when they got to the hospital there had been a car accident which meant their friend had to wait for nearly four hours before she could get her x-rays done,” says Red Bull.

“So while we were sitting in the waiting room with their injured friends, the twins thought: ‘We wish there was a device that can do an x-ray of a human on the spot. Something fast and quick – a mobile one!’ The idea for the digital x-ray glasses was born,” it adds.

We wish the pair the best of luck later this year when they present at Red Bull Basement and hopefully the digital X-Ray glasses prove as impressive globally as they have done locally.

[Image – Provided]