Project Categories
Industrial Design / Engineering / User Research
The Client
Accuray develops, manufactures, and sells radiotherapy systems for alternative cancer treatments. Their radiation therapy for cancer makes treatment shorter, safer, personalized, and more effective, ultimately enabling patients to live longer, better lives.
"Improve the outcomes that matter most."
-Accuracy
The Product
The Cyberknife® M6™ Robotic Radiosurgery System is a non-invasive alternative to surgery for treating cancerous and non-cancerous tumors anywhere in the body: prostate, breast, liver, pancreas, and kidney.
This robotic radiosurgery system moves around the patient, tracking tumor location and body movement and treating tumors from multiple angles. The three-dimensional dexterity of the device allows it to conform treatment to a tumor's exact shape, avoiding damage to healthy surrounding tissue.
The Challenge
Speck Design was charged with refining the Cyberknife's appearance and while enhancing the overall user experience. The final product needed to be a calming force for clinicians and patients in a medical procedure fraught with stress. The ultimate goal was to simplify the mechanism down to a series of soft, organic, approachable forms and concealing cables and previously-exposed mechanisms.
The Process
The design process meant a willingness to put aside typical expectations of medical devices in pursuit of personalized cancer care. The Speck design team soon realized--thinking about the effect, look, feel, and even color of a device could have on a patient receiving radiation treatment. Considering everything from enhancements to the room layout to creating a sense of safety and tranquility for cancer patients in a highly emotional state during treatment became paramount. When considering critical human details like what a patient was feeling at the time of treatment, seemingly small details such as the color of lighting and movement
