Petnow’s AI-driven smartphone biometric identification app may make big inroads into pet identification. A Korea-based technology company, Petnow, claims that there AI-driven biometric identification app for mobile phones means an end to lost pets. Petnow Inc is a pet identification development company based in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
“The first and only app to identify cats and dogs is coming to MWC 2023.”
99% accuracy
Petnow Inc is going to showcase a world first namely a smart phone application which is able to identify cats and dogs with an accuracy of 99% using biometrics. Biometrics is defined as “the automated recognition of individuals based upon their biological and behavioural characteristics”.
Dr. Ken Daehyun Pak, the co-founder of Petnow said:
“The 99% accurate biometric identification solution can be used in various applications, and we are looking forward to meeting with various players in the pet industry, as well as government departments and organisations that would like to adopt our solution during the MWC Barcelona event.”
The event referred to is an annual trade show organised by GSMA dedicated mainly to the mobile communications industry and it is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Download now
The application can be downloaded already in Spain, France, Germany and the UK. Downloading commenced on February 28, 2023. It is provided free for pet households to try it out.
End microchipping?
The company believes that their smartphone app will end the need to use microchips and other current forms of pet identification. That’s my interpretation. Or at least they hope that their app will make big inroads into, for example, micro-chipping.
Database
As the PR release did not tell me how it’s going to do work in practice, I would like speculate. Let’s say that most cat and dog owners in one country have downloaded the app. If they see a stray cat, they could scan the animal using the app and it should come up with an identification for that animal.
It’s going to need a large database but then so does micro-chipping. With micro-chipping you scan the microchip. With this system you simply use your smartphone to scan your cat or dog and, as I understand it, the biometric information is saved to a database. As scanning for biometrics does not require the input of a vet but simply the pet’s owner the take up rate should be high as losing a pet is one of the big fears of companion animal caretakers.
Rules for scanning
The Petnow website tells you how to make sure that scanning your pet is carried out successfully. Here are the rules that they state:
- No part is hidden by hairs.
- No sand or dirt is covering the face.
- Nose is not shining or under a direct light source.
- Scanning experience will be degraded when it is too dark or too bright.
- Direct lights may create shades that make recognition difficult.
- When the face or nose of a pet is too far or too close, the phone has to be moved slowly.
- Making rapid changes in environments will delay the recognition process.
- Only vertical orientation is supported currently.
- Support for horizontal orientation is a work in progress. We will notify when the app is updated.
- Place your pet’s face as big as possible while keeping at the distance of 4-8” or 10-20cm.
- The face of a pet photographing should not look sideways.
- You can scan your pet with a front-facing camera as well!
- Hold your pet in your arms, and the app will do the rest.
