How many times have you seen a "lost dog" poster hanging up on a street corner? John Polimeno was at a coffee shop when he spotted one of those posters. He thought about his own experience looking for a lost pet, with crying children in the backseat, and knew there must be a better way. After seeing several of the coffee shop customers glued to their smartphones, Polimeno had an idea.
It's a smartphone app called Finding Rover, and it uses facial recognition technology to reunite lost dogs with their owners. Polimeno is the founder and CEO of Finding Rover. Launched in the Apple Store in late 2013, followed by Android and Web versions, the app uses software developed by Polimeno and a team at the University of Utah. They studied facial recognition technologies for pets, locating all of their unique facial features.
It works like this: Pet owners upload a picture of their dog. Shelters and other Finding Rover users upload pictures of found dogs. Once a dog is reported found, its picture is scanned through all of the "lost" pictures. A found dog and lost dog are then matched based on the technology, and the worried owner is notified.
Laura Steveson of Chula Vista, Calif., was one of those owners. She describes her 5-year-old Brussels Griffon, Monchichi, as "her everything." They have been through a lot together: divorce, remarriage, moving, and everything in between. When Steveson and her husband traveled to City of Hope Cancer Center for his illness, Monchichi went missing. Steveson says she "fell to pieces" and her husband, near the end of his week-long treatment, started searching for ways to find their pet. He happened upon Finding Rover, and Steveson uploaded a picture of Monchichi. Minutes later, Steveson received an email that her dog was safe and found at the San Diego County Department of Animal Services. She was glad to receive piece of mind so quickly in such a stressful situation.
Currently, Finding Rover only helps find lost dogs, but next month cats will be added to the app.
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