Facial Recognition Helps To Find Rover. . . Puss Too!

What’s the worse than losing a pet? Well . . . practically nothing. It’s a heartbreaking calamity that is extremely stressful. The recent technological breakthrough of microchips has helped immensely in identifying and returning lost dogs and cats to their owners. However in those instances the onus falls on the finder to take the necessary steps to locate veterinarians to detect whether or not microchipping exists. To overcome that hurdle, Finding Rover has developed an ingenious app based on a technology that heretofore was only used on humans.

The Terms:

LOST is the term that should be used when you have lost YOUR pet.

MISSING is a term that's commonly used but one which can cause confusion. It’s best to avoid this word and simply use the term LOST instead for clarity.

STRAY = found animals in the care of a shelter.

FOUND = a displaced domestic animal that you have found and are trying to help find his home.

Taking “lost” pets into the digital age

Finding Rover's software was developed by John Polimeno and his tech team located at the University of Utah. Using facial recognition technologies developed for prisons and casinos, their algorithms are able to register all of the unique facial features of a canine or feline. The team boasts an accuracy rate of up to 99-percent, and as of late 2015, the app has reported more than 600 tales of pet-and-owner reunions.


How does it work?

Pet owners, shelters and other FindingRover users upload photos of found pets which is stored in the system. Once a dog or cat is reported found, its picture is scanned through all of the "lost" pictures, and are matched by the facial recognition tech.

Finding Rover then sends out alerts through a variety of partners, as well as in-app messaging. Anyone who finds an animal only has to take a photo of the lost animal. That image gets sent to the database where it's compared with the facial recognition notes from the original owner. The owner's contact information pops up, allowing the finder of the animal to get in touch with the dog's owner. It's that simple.

Have any of my readers used this technology? If so, please comment below and let us know of your experience?

The free app can be uploaded from the Apple store and Google Play



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