.lumen - Glasses for the Blind has been nominated for the Red Dot: Luminary. Emerging from the category Communication Technology, the design concept is designed by .lumen company and DESIRO Vision based in Romania. The .lumen glasses mimic the helpful characteristics of a guide dog for the blind, but without the drawbacks of the non-scalable solution.
Cornel Amariei, Founder and CEO of the startup company, .lumen, and his design team shares more with Red Dot.
There are 40 million blind people now, increasing to over 100 million by 2050. Despite all technological advancements, the only solutions when it comes to their mobility is the white cane and the guide dog. The guide dog’s features are unanimously seen as useful, but due to multiple drawbacks, there are only 28 thousand guide dogs to 40 million bind people today.
What we do at .lumen is to use the latest autonomous driving and robotics technologies, scaled down to this pair of glasses that mimic the main function of the guide dog, without the drawbacks that make one a non-scalable solution. We design the system for the other 39,972,000 blind individuals which can’t benefit from the advantages of a guide dog. Today, we are a team of almost 40 colleagues working on this dream.
First, it is incredibly difficult to truly understand this disability, and to really understand their needs. We took blindfolded courses to better grasp the challenges of the blind. Then, comes the challenges from designing something that is used by them: how you handle it, how you put it on, how you use it, how you clean it, etc. Some other technical challenges come from designing a product that fits most heads, considering there is limited data on the anthropometry of the head, especially the forehead.
Here at .lumen we work each day to create solutions that empower the life of people which need them the most. Every award reminds us that the work we do matters, and it drives to push forwards.
Winning the Red Dot award and being nominated for the Red Dot: Luminary award, is another reminder that normal people, in the right context, are capable of extraordinary achievements.
Designers celebrate
.lumen – Glasses for the Blind by .lumen and DESIRO Vision has won Red Dot: Luminary 2021. All of the award-winning design concepts will be made available at www.red-dot.org on the same day. The Online Exhibition serves as a reference to the best in design and details descriptions of the work and information on the designers.
Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2022 is open for submissions.
Submission Dates:
- Early submission: 2 January – 8 February
- Standard submission: 9 February – 23 March
- Late submission: 24 March – 18 May
For further information, visit: www.red-dot.org/design-concept
Register and submit at dc.red-dot.sg