Innovative Design Firm Lunar Design Develops Investigational Concept For Accuray’s Next Generation Cyberknife® System

March 20, 2006 – Lunar Design, a 21-year-old world leader in creating successful, iconic products for the consumer and medical industries announces its innovative and highly-integrated next generation design for Accuray’s Cyberknife Robotic Radiosurgery System. 

Accuray’s CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System is the world’s first and only radiosurgery system to use intelligent robotics. The CyberKnife combines image guidance and computer-controlled robotics to continuously track, detect and correct for tumor and patient movement throughout treatment, enabling the CyberKnife to treat tumors anywhere in the body with sub-millimeter accuracy.  The active tracking and high precision shorten treatment times and eliminate the patient discomfort of invasively attached head and body frames used in traditional radiosurgery.

"Our goal throughout the development of this revolutionary system for Accuray has been to create a solution that benefits technician, patient and hospital -- and to communicate those benefits through remarkably clear design," said Robert Howard, director of Lunar's Medical Engineering and Design (MED) practice.

Accuray chose Lunar to completely revamp the CyberKnife system experience, remolding the system as a cohesive, integrated suite in technology and design, as opposed to disparate parts cobbled together.  Lunar began by discerning Accuray’s market goals, then immersing its team into the roles of every person who experiences a CyberKnife, including the patient, operator, installer and hospital administrator.  Each of these constituents brings an important perspective to the CyberKnife experience, and Lunar distilled these perspectives to create a truly integrated system. 

Lunar conducted a range of interviews and on-site studies with patients and their advocates, operators, architects, contractors, space planners, and administrators.  From this research Lunar constructed a well-informed grand vision for the CyberKnife supported by malleable guidelines for site architects to follow.  For the patient, Lunar imagined a reassuring, comfortable environment; for the architect, Lunar built a versatile design language that could complement each hospital’s décor while expressing Accuray’s brand promise; and for the operators, Lunar prepared an efficient, professional workspace.

“Lunar's track record of combining creativity, innovation and practicality in design is the major reason we chose to work with them. The team at Lunar was eager to tackle the challenges of this project and succeeded in overcoming ergonomic, clinical and engineering hurdles, all while meeting very tight timelines without any sacrifice in the high quality of work I have come to expect over the years,” said Mike Saracen, director of product management at Accuray.

About Lunar Design

Lunar creates what's next in successful design. The firm's clients come to Lunar to get serious about applying design value to business. With a portfolio of highly successful products that have generated tens of billions of dollars in sales, Lunar consistently ranks among the top 5 award-winning industrial design firms according to Business Week magazine. Founded in 1984, Lunar provides full-service product development with offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, CA. Lunar's history designing medical instrumentation, clinical and surgical products includes work for Oral-B, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Intuitive Surgical, Siemens Medical (formerly Acuson), Lumenis (formerly Coherent Medical), Beckman Coulter, and Becton, Dickinson and Company.

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