“We don’t profit from disability — we profit from changing lives.” Interview with .lumen, the maker of ‘Glasses for the Blind’

dotLumen (also known as .lumen) is a Romanian research startup founded in 2020 by Cornel Amariei. The company develops Pedestrian Autonomous Driving (PAD AI), an advanced navigation system integrated into their Glasses for the Blind. The solution is a smart headset that provides real-time assistance for visually impaired individuals.

Currently, people with visual impairments usually rely on white canes or guide dogs for navigation, both of which are incredibly limiting. Canes provide only limited environmental awareness and require constant physical contact with obstacles, while guide dogs are costly and demand significant lifestyle adjustments. dotLumen Glasses offer an innovative, accessible alternative, which enhances independence and mobility without these constraints.

Earlier in 2025, dotLumen raised €5M investment to bring their Glasses technology to market. AIN spoke with Cornel Amariei, CEO and founder of dotLumen, about their innovative solution, the challenges of bringing it to market, and how recent funding will shape the future of mobility for the visually impaired.

Tell us about the story behind the creation of dotLumen?

I was born into a family where everyone except me has a disability. Growing up, I saw firsthand how much technology can improve the lives of people with disabilities. This realization led me to start dotLumen four years ago with a mission to help those with visual impairments by addressing a simple yet persistent problem: mobility.

For thousands of years, people with severe visual impairments have relied on white canes and guide dogs for navigation. However, guide dogs are expensive—training just 2,300 dogs last year cost $500 million, with each dog reaching up to $70,000 in costs. Beyond the financial burden, guide dogs require a significant lifestyle commitment that many people cannot or do not want to take on. As a result, despite 300 million people worldwide living with severe visual impairments, there are only 28,000 service dogs available. In Romania alone, there are 85,000 blind individuals and just 21 guide dogs—a glaring gap that highlights the need for a better solution.

That’s why we created dotLumen Glasses, a wearable device that replicates the essential functions of a guide dog. Just as a guide dog helps its owner navigate by pulling their hand and avoiding obstacles, dotLumen Glasses guide users by subtly directing their head movements. The glasses help users stay on the sidewalk, avoid hazards, cross streets safely, and reach their destinations. This essentially acts as a self-driving system for pedestrians.

Can you tell us about your product and explain to our readers how this technology works?

The device actually guides blind people in the pedestrian environment. It offers real-time navigation using a combination of haptic feedback and also voice guidance. It analyses the environment and tells users if they’re on a sidewalk, or what's a road, what's a crossing, what's a lake, what's a puddle, obstacles above the ground, below the ground. 

You can request the device to search for a destination on Google Maps using your smartphone, press 'Share,' and the dotLumen Glasses will guide you there. By the end of the year, we aim to integrate public transportation support, allowing the glasses to guide users to a bus stop, help them board the correct bus, and ensure they reach their final destination. This is something even guide dogs have never been able to achieve.

We use sound to enhance the experience, but the core technology is haptics, the science of touch-based feedback. The dotLumen Glasses gently guide the user by subtly pulling their head direction up to 100 times per second, helping them avoid obstacles, stay on the sidewalk, and navigate safely.

Additionally, the glasses provide spoken cues to enhance awareness. For example, if you're walking through a park, the system might say, “There’s a bench on your right.” This functionality extends to doors, stairs, elevators, and other environmental elements, adapting dynamically based on whether the user is indoors or outdoors.

Since people with visual impairments rely heavily on their hearing to understand their surroundings, we use an open speaker design that delivers directional sound without covering the ears.  The sound is totally configurable. We're not changing human hearing. We are using other senses in order to give the experience and to give mobility freedom.

Is there anything similar to your technology currently on the market?

No, there's nothing like what we're building. It's the first of its kind. The closest analogy is a guide dog, but while guide dogs are very cute and very useful, they have lots of technical limitations. Unlike a guide dog, dotLumen Glasses provide similar mobility support without these constraints, offering a more accessible and scalable solution.

What feedback have you received from users who have tried your glasses?

Our glasses are being tested by over 400 visually impaired individuals worldwide, and we're getting amazing feedback. We’re preparing to launch them on the market in just a few months.

For the past year, we’ve been conducting clinical trials, ensuring continuous testing and improvement. Right now we've just recovered all the units because we're releasing some new updates on them. But we are always testing all over the world, mostly in Romania.

How do you customize the dotLumen Glasses for different types of visual impairments and individual psychological factors?

First of all, our product is independent of the type of visual impairment a person has because it does not rely on visual feedback or require any level of sight. When developing and testing the glasses, even our team blindfolds themselves to navigate the city using the device. This ensures that it works purely through touch and sound. 

The only two essential requirements for using our first-generation product are some level of hearing and intact somatosensory perception. Long story short you must have the sense of touch on your head specifically on your forehead, because that’s where the haptic feedback is delivered.

What are the main challenges in your product development right now?

We face a billion challenges: clients, product customization, environment adaptation.

One major challenge was making the product work worldwide. Unlike self-driving cars, which operate on relatively standardized roads, pedestrian infrastructure varies drastically between cities and countries—sidewalks, crossings, and pathways are never the same. Adapting the technology to different urban environments was incredibly complex, but we’ve made significant progress.

Another challenge was designing a universal fit. The glasses need to work comfortably for as many people as possible, and we’ve now achieved compatibility with 90% of adult head sizes.

Then there are the constant hardware and software challenges:

• Making the device smaller and lighter;

• Reducing power consumption;

• Adding new features while ensuring everything runs without internet connectivity.

Unlike many AI-driven solutions, dotLumen Glasses process all data on the device itself, with no reliance on cloud computing. This independence adds complexity but makes the product more reliable in real-world conditions.

So, there’re lots of challenges we have solved, but we can always improve. And with those improvements will come some pretty, pretty cool new stuff.

How do you plan to commercialize your product?

For example, in Romania, our device will be fully covered by assistive technology reimbursement programs. Similar funding programs exist across the European Union, but accessing them is a complex process. While medical device regulations are standardized across Europe, market entry requirements vary by country, meaning we must navigate different bureaucratic processes in each region. This is a significant challenge for a company of our size.

To overcome this, we've just raised a big new round of investment. We’re partnering with blind associations and assistive technology dealers across Europe, leveraging their expertise and networks to distribute and promote our product effectively. These partners serve as our boots on the ground, helping us reach those who need our technology the most.

How much will the product cost?

The price depends on the country, as reimbursement policies for medical devices differ across regions. Our end goal is zero cost for the end customer. And in some countries, it may take a bit longer to receive those reimbursements. Because of that, we might adopt a B2C approach or a B2B2C model, partnering with assistive technology dealerships or blind associations to make the product accessible.

As for the estimated price, dotLumen glasses can cost between €5,000 and €10,000. For comparison, training a single guide dog costs between €60,000 and €70,000, with a lifetime cost exceeding €200,000. Our goal is simple: to be at least 10 times cheaper than any other solution.

Who is your target market?

Basically, the world.

We want to help people all over the world, but we are rolling out the product in a strategic order based on affordability and market readiness. While dotLumen Glasses are designed to work globally, some markets are better positioned to adopt the initial version, while others will receive future iterations that will be cheaper, faster, and more advanced over the next three years.

Our first target markets include Europe, the US and North America, with select countries in Asia also considered based on pricing and technological factors. 

The European Union is our initial focus because of its standardized medical device regulations, making expansion within EU countries more seamless. Additionally, from a technology perspective, compliance with EU standards largely aligns with US and UK requirements, While the processes for registration differ, the fundamental rules are quite similar.

Let’s talk about your latest €5 million investment. How did you meet the investors and convince them to invest in your product?

We were privileged. I didn’t realize it back then, but I do now.

We officially opened our investment round last January, and it took an entire year to complete. By the end of the process, we had four lead investors to choose from and 11 to 14 additional investors willing to participate. This put us in a strong position to decide which offer suited us best.

We started with a list of around 10,000 potential investors, then applied specific metrics to narrow it down to 300–400. Over the next one to two months, we conducted outreach: writing to investors, leveraging connections, and securing introductions.

I remember telling my colleagues, "We’ve done all this work for these investors, but the ones who will actually invest are probably not even on this list of 10,000 or at least not on the final shortlist of 300-400." And that’s exactly what happened. The only exception was our lead investor, Catalyst Romania, who was, in fact, on the original list.

One aspect I’m especially proud of is that dotLumen is Romania’s first deep tech startup. Before us, there were no deep tech startups in the country. The fact that a Romanian fund led our investment round makes this achievement deeply meaningful to me.

The financing round also included €1 million raised via SeedBlink. Why do you think people were eager to support your idea through crowdfunding?

For a long time, I struggled with turning down people who genuinely wanted to invest in dotLumen. Many had followed our journey for years and believed deeply in our mission. Some wanted to invest €10,000 or €20,000, but we simply had no way to accommodate smaller investments at the time, which was difficult to say no to.

That’s why I promised myself that in our next financing round, we would integrate crowdfunding. And it turned out to be the right decision! We raised €1 million in just seven hours. I remember launching the round at 10 a.m., then going for a dentist appointment. When I walked out an hour and a half later, we had already secured half a million euros. I was shocked!

Beyond the initial €1 million raised on SeedBlink, we’re now seeing additional investments through the secondary market, where new investors are buying shares from early backers.

As for why people invested, it came down to two main reasons:

1. Many knew me personally or had followed dotLumen’s journey for years and believed in what we stand for.

2. They believe in Romania’s potential—they see that groundbreaking technology can be built here and that investing in solutions that genuinely improve lives is worth it.

And the truth is, there is financial return in building things that help people.

I remember a conversation with one of my first angel investors, who later decided to invest the second time. At first, he told me, "I think it's wrong to believe we can make a profit from someone's disability." And I responded, "We don’t profit from disability — we profit from changing lives." A few years later, he saw the impact of our work and invested again, this time at a much larger scale.

How do you plan to use the fresh capital? Are there plans to scale production or expand your product offering?

The €5 million we raised is primarily dedicated to market entry: finalizing R&D,  launching our first-generation product in Europe, and establishing dotLumen as a key market player.

Beyond this investment round, we’ve also secured grants totaling a few million euros. Currently, we have a confirmed €1.5 million grant, which we are using to develop the second generation of our glasses. Additional grant applications are still pending.

Our first priority is marketing and distribution in Europe, while grants will help fund the development of our next-generation product.

Regarding production, our medical device version is being manufactured within the European Union, though not in Romania. We’ll be sharing more details soon. Once we've successfully entered the European market, our next major expansion will be into the US.