Artificial intelligence will assist judges

[Jard.the.gymnast]

AI judges readied for Tokyo 2020 gymnastics competitions

Gymnasts competing in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics could see their efforts judged and scored by AI and 3D sensing systems, following successful trials of the technology at the International Gymnastics Federation World Cup Series earlier this year.

www.cio.com.au

 

[gymgal]

looking forward to see how this will work later this year.

 

[AliyaFan76]

Hmm. I skimmed the article, but I have mixed feelings about this. I've always kind of secretly liked that you could fake it and make the judges believe it. I guess we'll have to see how this goes!

 

[3rd_time_around]

Well, I didn’t realize that judges could become obsolete. Seems a little unfair to do this for gymnastics and not baseball, basketball, hockey, wrestling, football...yes they have instant replay, but not technology running and refereeing the entire game.

 

[mommyof1]

It's interesting to imagine what incentives such a system will create in terms of skills and choreography. For example, will the system be able to judge "dynamics"? Will it be pickier about cast angles or bent legs? Will we see more or less of the hideous one-legged squatting turn?

 

[GymDadWA]

Well, I didn’t realize that judges could become obsolete. Seems a little unfair to do this for gymnastics and not baseball, basketball, hockey, wrestling, football...yes they have instant replay, but not technology running and refereeing the entire game.

I think most of those sports would be happy to have AI assistance with split second judgement calls, such as "did a ball cross a line" or "did a player make contact", and let the officials focus on the subjective calls like "did the player have a clear path". Especially if it helps with the flow of the sport. In tennis they do use an AI/replay combo but still have a head referee.

For gymnastics if an AI can measure and score the lines and angles then lets the judging score the artistry it seems like a move in the right direction.