The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) New Bolton Center, in collaboration with Four Dimensional Digital Imaging (4DDI), will pioneer the use of a robotics-controlled imaging system for use in the standing and moving horse.

Penn Vet is the first veterinary hospital in the world to own this technology.

The four-robot system (trade name Equimagine) can perform multiple modalities—computed tomography (CT), fluoroscopy (real-time radiography), tomosynthesis (an imaging technique in which multiple X rays of one object are taken from a number angles), digital radiography, and a high-speed radiographic camera that will be able to operate at up to 16,000 frames per second—and will be used in conjunction with a high-speed treadmill.

“This will revolutionize equine imaging,” said Barbara Dallap Schaer, VMD, Dipl. ACVS, ACVECC, medical director of New Bolton Center, Penn Vet’s large animal hospital