Turning ideas into reality

.LUMEN may look like a virtual reality headset, but when it is finally in production, it will be able to provide the 40 million blind people around the world the ability to get around on their own.

The glasses, now nearing pre-production stage, mimics the characteristics of a guide dog, but without the high cost of training one. When worn, .lumen is able to suss out objects in the surroundings, compute paths and transmit information to the user using haptic and auditory impulses.

For their efforts, the Romanian design team were awarded the Red Dot Luminary, the highest level of recognition accorded at the Red Dot Award: Design Concept, a competition for innovative ideas.