A new application was created using face recognition technology to find lost dogs.
John and Kristie Polimeno, of Discovery Bay, Calif., founded the app when they saw a lost dog poster that reminded them of their own pet they lost years prior. They donated money to the University of Utah, where app programmers developed an algorithm that distinguishes the key features of dogs that sets them apart from other dogs.
Finding Rover was created to help reunite lost dogs with their owners through an app in the iPhone and Android app store.
Adding your dog's face to the system is simple:
When your dog is lost and you report it to Finding Rover, they alert their network of dog organizations, the finder takes a photo of the dog (there's a bark button to help get the pooch to look at the camera) through the app to do a search, and once there's a match your contact info pops up so your dog can be returned to you.
"We don't charge anything. We don't sell anything. Our goal is to save dogs," John Polimeno, founder of Finding Rover, told KXAN. "We can identify a dog using facial recognition."
Polimeno told WTOC that his goal is to find 100 million animals worldwide in the next five years.
Dogs are a big part of many families. The idea of an app being able to find a lost dog is so appealing to some animal lovers that it's making some consider joining the world of smartphones for the first time.
"I have the old, antique flip phone," Kathy Waters, who once lost a dog for three hours, told WTOC. "But this is a good reason to get it, to upgrade to a smartphone."
