Cluj-Napoca-based DeepTech startup .lumen, identified for its AI-powered glasses for the blind, has secured an €11 million grant for the mission “PABLO – Autonomous Robots for City Supply”, funded below the Clever Progress, Digitalization, and Monetary Devices Programme 2021–2027.
.lumen was additionally included within the weekly roundup of our sister publication HealthHack for its January €5 million funding spherical.
“We’ve confirmed that PAD AI expertise might help visually impaired people transfer independently. Now, we’re extending it to reimagine how items transfer in cities. Think about humanoid and quadruped robots strolling on sidewalks, delivering your meals or groceries,”mentioned Cornel Amariei, CEO and founding father of .lumen.
Whereas that is public grant funding somewhat than enterprise capital, it aligns with a wider European development in 2025 of financing robotics and automation for logistics and inspection.
Throughout Europe, a number of robotics and AI ventures have attracted non-public funding this 12 months. Warsaw-based Nomagic raised €41.5 million to broaden AI-driven robotic arms; Munich’s Filics secured €13.5 million for autonomous load-carrying robots; Power Robotics from Darmstadt raised €11.5 million Sequence A for inspection robots and drones; and London startup Synkka secured pre-Seed backing (c. €0.5–1 million) to develop an autonomous workforce for parcel supply.
Inside this panorama, .lumen’s publicly funded initiative is distinctive. Its €11 million mission – pushed by a research-industry consortium – positions Romania among the many few European nations advancing humanoid and quadruped robotics for city logistics.
In contrast with the VC-backed rounds in Germany, Poland, and the UK, .lumen’s funding highlights how EU-supported R&D can complement non-public funding in constructing Europe’s autonomous mobility ecosystem.
“The PABLO mission displays our mission to show basic analysis into actual technological purposes, by shut collaboration between academia and {industry}. This synergy is a vital step in strengthening Romania’s means to develop clever, sustainable, and aggressive programs at a European stage in robotics and autonomous mobility,” mentioned Alexandru Gal, Researcher at IMSAR.
Based in 2020, .lumen is a analysis startup growing Pedestrian Autonomous Driving (PAD AI), a expertise first showcased by the .lumen Glasses for the Blind. Based by Cornel Amariei, the corporate creates AI-powered mobility options that restore independence to the visually impaired – and now, autonomy to city logistics.
The mission will run from Sept. 2025 to Sept. 2028, bringing collectively a consortium led by .lumen, alongside the Institute of Strong Mechanics of the Romanian Academy (IMSAR), BreadCrumbs Interactive (fleet administration software program), and Linnify (answerable for the event of the supply app).
Collectively, the groups are growing a brand new technology of humanoid and quadruped robots for city supply, designed to navigate autonomously on sidewalks and thru crowded areas, providing a sustainable, environment friendly different to conventional supply fleets.
The purpose of the mission is to develop an autonomous city supply resolution, powered by clever humanoid and quadruped robots able to decreasing supply prices and instances, minimising environmental influence, and assembly the rising demand for quick, versatile, and sustainable providers.
Anticipated outcomes embody an entire software program and {hardware} system for autonomous robots, the creation of three new R&D positions, a household of nationwide and worldwide patents, and copyright safety for AI-based pedestrian navigation software program.
By automating last-mile supply, the mission may supply Europe a strategic benefit and rework Romanian DeepTech right into a mannequin of sustainable city logistics.
