
.lumen builds glasses that empower the blind to live a better life. There are 40 million blind people today, and despite all the technological advancements, the most used mobility solutions are the walking cane and the guide dog. The guide dog is unanimously seen as a good option, but there are only 28,000 guide dogs to 40 million individuals with visual disabilities. .lumen offers a solution that mimics the benefits of a guide dog without the drawbacks that make it a non-scalable solution.

.lumen builds glasses that empower the blind to live a better life. There are 40 million blind people today, and despite all the technological advancements, the most used mobility solutions are the walking cane and the guide dog. The guide dog is unanimously seen as a good option, but there are only 28,000 guide dogs to 40 million individuals with visual disabilities. .lumen offers a solution that mimics the benefits of a guide dog without the drawbacks that make it a non-scalable solution.
Product: AI-powered "Glasses for the Blind" using cameras/spatial AI and haptic feedback to provide guide-dog-like navigation (Pedestrian Autonomous Driving, PAD AI).
Founder & HQ: Founded in 2020 by Cornel Amariei; headquartered in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Funding: Closed a €5M investment round (Jan 14, 2025) led by Catalyst Romania; secured an €11M grant (Oct 20, 2025) for an autonomous-robots project.
Regulatory & Awards: CE certification for the Glasses for the Blind (May 15, 2025); CES 2026 Innovation Awards Honoree (Accessibility & Longevity).
Team size: 41 employees
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Assistive mobility and navigation for blind and visually impaired people.
2020
Research Services
€5M
Round included participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and Tigrim Capital; included a €1M crowdfunding component facilitated by SeedBlink.
€11M
Grant awarded for the "PABLO – Autonomous Robots for Urban Delivery" project under the Intelligent Growth, Digitalization, and Financial Instruments Program 2021–2027.
“Lead investor Catalyst Romania; participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and Tigrim Capital; SeedBlink facilitated a €1M crowdfunding component; Venture to Future Fund cited as a co-investor in company materials.”
300 million people need your code to change their lives.
For thousands of years, blind individuals only had 2 mobility solutions: the guide dog and the white cane. Now, your code can change that. You can contribute to developing Pedestrian Autonomous Driving, applied in the Glasses for the Blind, the most innovative mobility solution that will empower millions to live a better life.
This is for the crazy ones, the ones that believe their work can change the world.
Some of the fields of interest:
- Develop software, models, and computer vision flows for environmental understanding
- Understand the input from the sensors (mostly vision, but not only), and implement algorithms that deal with noise reduction, fusion of multiple sensors, and decision based on data.
- Work with concepts such as real-time semantic segmentation / object-detection, advanced processing techniques on video or 3D point clouds (Feature Tracking, 3D Object Tracking, Visual Odometry, etc.)
- Religiously optimize the algorithms to make them as efficient as possible on the target embedded platform. This includes both single threaded and highly parallel (multi-core) algorithms.
Your Skills
- First and foremost, curiosity and grit. What you will be doing is on the cutting edge of what is possible and has never been done before.
- Intersection of ML and Classical Computer Vision, from 1D to 4D.
- Strong algorithmics skills, with proven experience in complex challenges, Olympiads, or other industry projects.
- Experience of C++ / Python, Git, developing large projects, etc.
- Highly mathematical mind with algorithm optimization knowledge.
- Strong documentation skills.
- Research experience is a plus.
- Experience with CUDA, SLAM, 2D/3D Mapping, ROS, is a plus.
- Graduate of technical universities or equivalent academics.
- Strong English skills.
Your life @.lumen
You will be part of the team which changed the world, from Romania. Your work will be pushing limits to improve the lives of millions.
· Each day is different. There is no monotony here, just great challenges, a creative environment, and fun colleagues.
· Your work will be used in days, not years.
· You will work within a small team, complementing each other.
· You’ll receive a lot of support. With time, we hope to see you do the same.
Otherwise, we have a nice IKEA showroom like HQ, good coffee, and loud music (but some quiet areas too).
What else we offer?
· Attractive salary (obviously…)
· Employee Stock Option Program through which employees that bring a significant impact are rewarded with company stock
· Private medical package
· Flexible schedule
What’s next?
Our recruitment process includes 4 steps:
1. We review your application
2. The most suited candidates meet us for an informal discussion
3. Next, we invite the best to join a challenge led by Cornel Amariei
4. We get to meet the winner for the final interview with Cornel Amariei
About .lumen
.lumen builds Pedestrian Autonomous Driving, first showcased in the Glasses for the Blind.
There are over 300 million visually impaired individuals worldwide, and while technology advances, the most commonly used solutions for them—guide dogs and white canes—are thousands of years old. At .lumen, we are changing this paradigm.
.lumen is a research startup leveraging the most advanced AI, robotics, and neuroscience technologies to empower the blind. This is no easy task, and we are looking for the best in the world to help us achieve it.
In just four years, .lumen has become one of the most awarded startups globally. From opening Nvidia GTC in front of millions to winning the Red Dot: Luminary award and becoming the first Romanian company to raise over €9 million from the European Innovation Council (EIC), our journey has been remarkable.
Our work is already in the history books, and our story is still being written.
Come write it with us. Also check our video.