A weight change of less than 3 grams
In the early days of the JOYCOVE lab, Lucky the cockatiel was more than a pet. Lucky was the team's closest chief tester and a real source of emotional support. At that time, we were working day and night on the data model for our first Smart Weighing Bowl prototype.
In an accident at home, Lucky swallowed a tiny piece of metal. Because work was busy, Lucky's owner, a member of the founding team, did not notice anything unusual right away. Lucky still stood on the perch as usual, with no obvious sign of pain on the outside.
But the JOYCOVE prototype, still in testing, sensed the danger before any human did. The data showed that Lucky's food intake had fallen for two days in a row, and its fasting weight was down by less than 3 grams. That alert was what made the team stop work immediately and take Lucky to an exotic animal hospital.
The prototype noticed the danger before the owner did
The app records showed that Lucky's fasting weight kept slipping, and food intake was also quietly declining. Together, those two lines became a silent warning.
The data made the team realize that Lucky's condition was far less normal than it seemed. So they quickly took Lucky to an exotic animal hospital for a full examination.
"It was fortunate that Lucky was brought in early enough. Most birds that swallow metal are not discovered until they become weak. By then, the toxins have already spread, and treatment becomes much more difficult."
- Attending veterinarian, exotic animal hospital
After the examination, the X-ray clearly showed a foreign object in Lucky's digestive tract. Because Lucky was brought in early enough this time, more serious internal damage was avoided.
14 days later, Lucky flew again
After 14 days of professional treatment, Lucky was safely out of danger. Back at home, the JOYCOVE prototype kept tracking food intake and weight, and watching those curves rise again day by day slowly brought peace of mind back to the owner.
During recovery, numbers that once had to be written down by hand could now be viewed directly in the app. It was not until Lucky became lively again and flew around the lab once more that we truly understood this was more than a piece of hardware.
Lucky was the first bird we protected with technology. Lucky's recovery made the team even more certain that the deepest love begins with the clearest understanding.
