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Finding Rover _ 7-26
- 1. Patricia Lucido Gonsalves July 22, 2103 FINDING ROVER Dog owners around the globe will be thanking Discovery Bay resident John Polimeno for helping to reunite them with their lost pet. Polimeno’s creation, “Finding Rover” is the first of its kind dog facial recognition software available now as an iPhone App. “I was enjoying a cup of coffee at the local coffee house when I noticed the ‘Lost Dog’ posters taped to the windows,” said Polimeno. “I thought there has to be a better way to find our pets with all the technology available today.” Three years later, on July 16, 2013, ‘Finding Rover’ was officially launched for iOS users. The free mobile application uses state of the art facial recognition technology (FRT) by enabling anyone to instantly identify a missing dog simply by taking a photo on their mobile device. Polimeno knew that identifying people through FRT was possible, so why not dogs? But he was told the process for animals was much more difficult, even unlikely. After being turned away by leading software developers around the world, he partnered with The University of Utah research and development (R&D) department, and spent two years creating its proprietary facial recognition technology. Finding Rover has the only technology that instantly recognizes a dog on the spot. “Finding Rover is 98% accurate,” said Polimeno, “Within 10 seconds of posting your dog’s photo, the App shows you all the images of dogs similar to yours, in order of likeliness.” The application is easy to use, and sends a push notification and photo alert if a dog is lost or found within a 10 mile radius. If someone spots a lost dog and takes a photo and uploads it to the Finding Rover App, the dog can be identified through the FRT software and the finder will receive notification on how to contact the owner. - more -
- 2. page 2- The first step is to get registered on Finding Rover. “A dog is a beloved family member and if it goes missing it can be devastating to everyone involved,” said Polimeno. “We want to do everything we can to safeguard our dogs from being lost forever. Registering a dog on Finding Rover is another step all owners should take to further protect their cherished pet.” Users can sign up quickly through Facebook and email - all you need is a picture of your dog and a zip code. Polimeno noted that taking a picture of an animal is not a simple feat. “Have you ever tried to take a photo of your dog, and they look away?” he asked. “It happens all the time, so I created a “Bark icon” for the app. Just before you snap the picture, you push the bark icon and the dog immediately turns towards the sound.” Polimeno and his wife, Kristie, have set out on a 10-city tour in their 40- foot “Finding Rover” bus to demonstrate their App, with scheduled visits to animal shelters and veterinarians. Over 500,000 pets are killed in shelters every year, and a significant source of the problem includes lack of identification. Currently only 13 percent of shelter pets are reunited with their owners, and Finding Rover is essential to increasing those numbers. “It’s always about the dogs,” said Polimeno. “We didn’t do this for the money. We just want happy endings and happy people.” Finding Rover is free to download and currently available on iOS, and for those who may not be smart phone savvy you can register online. Get more details and see more features at http://findingrover.com/. The company plans to release a Finding Rover App for Android later this year. “We are also working on a cat App,” said Polimeno. “Finding Kitty is our next project.” # # # - 30 - # # #