Lacu: a safe, private environment to take a break from reality
Industrial Design Student 2015
Ben Moffatt Royal College of Art / Imperial College London
Ben Moffatt is designing a way to
help combat stress and anxiety in today’s society. His project, Lacu, is
a wall-mounted soundproof area to converse, reflect on a problem and
realise a solution all by oneself. It is designed to be a stepping stone
between having an issue and seeking professional help by encouraging
the user to verbalise their problems or anxieties, and thereby stimulate
different areas of the brain, which can help provide a solution in a
similar way to cognitive behavioural therapy.
Lacu houses an artificial intelligence which prompts and detects
keywords that users say, and provides a visual representation of what is
being said. The interior is designed to induce a feeling of infinity
and ‘speaking outwards’. At the end of each session, it provides a
printout receipt, which gives a redacted overview of what was said. The
main application of Lacu is in the workplace, where the AI can securely
and anonymously analyse macro issues and flag them as areas in need of
remedy.
In 2015, there were 488,000 recorded cases of work related stress
depression or anxiety in the UK. It accounted for 37% of all work
related ill health cases and 45% of all working days lost due to ill
health. Recent research has also suggested that it can lead to heart
attacks and strokes.
A
study published in the British Medical Journal reported patients with
severe depression can benefit as much from Talking Therapies as they do
from anti-depressant medication. The aim is that Lacu can provide this
outlet and tackle the problem at an early stage.
Ben is developing Lacu in collaboration with Eun Kyung Shin, Chih Chiu and Ken Fujiyoshi.
