WEARABLE COLIC DETECTOR SHOWS PROMISE
Catching colic early can be difficult. Signs of gut pain in horses are often subtle and easy to overlook. But what if a horse could wear a device that detected signs of digestive upset, determine its severity and automatically notify a veterinarian? Research conducted in Belgium may one day make that possible.
Leveraging advances in wearable technology and artificial intelligence, the Belgian researchers have developed a system that incorporates leg boots fitted with accelerometers and a diagnostic computer algorithm. “The accelerometers capture movement data, which is then entered into a computer model,” says Anniek Eerdekens, M.Sc., of Ghent University. “The computer model then categorizes that data into either a typical behavior or