By Elisa Black-Taylor
While this isn’t a cat technology story as of today, it will be in about six months. I wanted to share this new information with all of you because it can greatly improve the odds of finding a lost pet, and I know a lot of you also have dogs. It’s called Finding Rover, and is meant to add another way of locating a lost pet. It’s meant to complement, not replace, ID tags and micro-chipping.
The inventor of Finding Rover, John Polimeno, has promised us that a Finding Kitty app is in the works. The app, right now available only on iPhones, is already reuniting lost dogs with their owners.
Here’s a two minute video explaining how Finding Rover works.
John got the idea for helping lost dogs reunite with their owners a few years ago as he and his wife sat in a coffee shop. He spotted a poster advertising a lost dog, and reflected back on when their family dog went missing. It was devastating to his children, who cried over their missing family member.
That’s when John, who ran a construction company at the time, got the idea of using facial recognition software to find lost dogs. He began by contacting those involved in developing facial-recognition software. The problem with using it on dogs was their fur. There are so many color and texture variations that it made most facial-recognition software already on the market useless when trying to identify a dog.
Working with the Software Development Center at the University of Utah, John funded the research while the center worked on how the obstacle that so many different types and colors of fur created.
The programmers were able to develop an algorithm (a set of instructions for carrying out a procedure) called Pet Match that uses computer vision to pick up on key features that differentiated one dog from another. Eye color, eye shape, fur colors, breed and body size are all used in combination to create a unique “fingerprint,” and is 98% accurate on dogs that have been found using the software.
All you do is take a picture of your dog using your iPhone. There are circles on the screen that you place on the eyes and nose of your dog. Then the photo is uploaded into a central database. There’s also a “bark” button you can use to get your dog to look at the camera. I wonder whether the Finding Kitty app will have a “bird” button to get the cats attention.
Finding Rover can also be used if you find a lost dog and want to hunt for the owner. While the software works best with close up shots, if a dog can’t be safely approached, a full body shot can be taken and a match found. Not only are fur color, eye shape, etc. used, the software can search for lost dogs using a GPS type software that narrows down location.
One problem is not that many people are using Finding Rover since it’s such new technology. It’s currently only in use in the Bay area in California. John is touring the country on a Finding Rover bus to promote the new app nationwide. It will also help when the technology crosses over to Android and web users in a few months.
Many shelters are interested in using Finding Rover. Imagine how many pets can be reunited with their owners if everyone gets their pet entered into the system? All a shelter has to do is photograph the animal, then enter the information into a data base for a match. It’s estimated that only 20-25% of most dogs and cats turned into shelters are owner turn-in’s. That leaves 75% who are lost, with many owners unsure of where to search for a pet that goes missing.
Social media will also come into play with the software, allowing owners to share photos they take of their favorite pet with others. Everyone I know LOVES to share cat and dog photos on the internet. The Finding Rover app is compared to uploading a photo on Facebook and tagging it. This should make it simple to use.
What do you think of this new method of identifying lost dogs? Do you think it will be difficult using the same program to find a lost cat? To me, every cat has individual color markings, and may even be easier to guarantee a match than identifying a dog.
I’ll keep an eye out for when the app is released for use with cats. Personally, I think it’s great, and can’t wait until it comes out for Android phones. Finding Rover was reported on originally back in mid July, so look for it being available for cats around the first of the year.
Elisa
Sources:
- nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Lost-Dog-Theres-an-App-For-That-215747131.html
- news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57598576-94/finding-rover-app-tracks-lost-dogs-using-facial-recognition/
Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.
Oh, it’s great software! But I’m still not sure about the way it’s going to work. I’m sure that there are thousands of software developing companies like https://kindgeek.com/ that can create something really impressive, but it’s still pretty unbelievable for me that the technologies have gone so far.
This is so awesome. I cannot wait until this is worldwide and available for all phones and for dogs and cats alike. The sooner that these sites are developed, the less heartache there will be for people and they’re furry family members and also there will be less loss of animals lives. Time is of the essence! Kudos to the man with this idea and all of the people working to make it happen. God bless all of you!
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts, Annie.
PiP My Pet has already launched technology that uses facial recognition to identify “CATS” and dogs. Our application is available on both Android and iPhone in the Google Play store or iTunes.
Good luck Philip.
I agree with Ruth. I think it is very useful especially because the software can be downloaded as an “app” to a smart phone, which makes it very accessible and its use is immediate and easy.
I guess it relies on both the companion animal’s owner photographing his cat or dog and the shelters doing the same thing. Is that correct? If so it means getting the shelter organizations onboard.
I think it will be useful, because it can actually be hard to identify your own pet, especially if he’s frightened or stressed. I remember being nervous about this fact hen another black cat hopped the fence into our yard. After one cat climbed the fence out of the yard I was left wondering if the growling, snarling, unapproachable cat before me was Monty– or was it Monty who jumped the fence? I honestly wasn’t sure if I had Monty in front of me or a feral cat (probably related to him) and therefore nearly his twin. It turned out to be Monty. He was easier to ID after he calmed down. He is microchipped so I he ended up in a shelter I would hope that would save him, but it doesn’t always work– the chip can shift and be misses when they scan for it. Also, there has been talk of a risk to the animal from the microchips. This recognition software is non-invasive. It’s just one more tool to help reunite a human with his or her furry companion.