Founding batch ships Fall 2026. Waitlist members get early-bird pricing
Canary
Join the waitlist

It started in half a
toothpaste box.

Canary was not designed in one go. It was nine prototypes over five years, each one answering a question the last one raised. Here they are, in order, with the dates they were built.

  1. A bare e-paper module and CO2 sensor wired to a breadboard on a desk in front of a stack of books, showing 647 ppm.

    2019-FEB-20

    J’adore

    An MHZ19-B, a sensor designed to monitor CO2 in hospital operating theatres, connected to my PC over serial. Data logged with PowerShell. A screen came later.

  2. The prototype housed in half a cardboard toothpaste box, with a rectangular window cut out for the display.

    2019-MAR-07

    Fresh

    Added an ambient pressure sensor and logging to a microSD card. Everything ran from USB at 5V, housed inside half a toothpaste box.

  3. The prototype rebuilt inside an Italian soap box, held together with screws, with a red warning LED lit on top.

    2019-JUN-02

    Nutty

    Added a PMS5003 particulate sensor with a red LED to warn above 10 PM2.5. Now running from a rechargeable LiPo, so it could leave the desk.

  4. A custom circuit board silkscreened with a line portrait of its maker, Constantin Bucataru, wearing a face mask, above the words Wellness Ninja. It rests against two white resin enclosures.

    2020-JUL-06

    Wellness Ninja

    A maximum miniaturisation test, enclosed in a custom resin case. Added a bright RGB LED, a capacitive touch button and an ambient luminosity sensor.

  5. A white resin unit on a desk of schematics at night, its particulate trace climbing to 39.4 PM10 under an orange smoke-lit sky.

    2020-NOV-07

    Wildfires

    I realised what it could be. Recording a full day of smoke drifting over Toronto showed a phenomenon completely unlike barbecues and cigarettes: it arrives slowly, stays for hours, and does not clear when you close a window.

  6. A concept render of a white PC case painted with a blue dragon and butterflies, with an e-paper air quality display mounted on the front.

    2022-JAN-30

    Blue Dragon

    I proposed a personal wellness companion built directly into a PC. Intel® liked the idea enough to send the materials and the funding to build it, and it went on to win their PC Mod Level-Up Challenge.

    See the winning entry
  7. A sensor build hidden inside a painted toadstool ornament on a windowsill, its screen listing readings from several sensors at once.

    2022-SEP-26

    Cyber Gnome

    To stress test new sensors and gauge public reaction, I turned it into an open science project and entered a contest, winning a publication in the organiser’s magazine.

    See the build guide
  8. A yellow-cased unit held up against summer trees, showing 117.4 PM10 after a steep climb.

    2023-JUN-07

    Toronto’s Burning

    I recorded very elevated particle levels from my home in Willowdale and warned anyone who would listen. The local news was slow to advise against jogging; the device was not.

    And again in 2025
  9. A yellow-cased unit held against a clear blue sky, showing ambient pressure peaking, with the Canary bird wearing eclipse glasses on screen.

    2024-APR-07

    Solar Eclipse

    On totality’s eve I was hunting for rising pressure. The next day in Hamilton everyone was panicking about cloud cover, while my Canary showed the clouds would part in time.

The tenth one is the one you can buy.

Everything above led to the unit shipping this year. Join the waitlist and we will tell you once, when it opens.

Join the waitlist