Editor
The Engineer
The world cup is just weeks away, England’s cricketers are heading home for a summer of test matches and tennis fans are looking forward to their annual Wimbledon fix.
But while the players wow and entertain the crowds with their heroics, skills and tantrums, this summer’s packed schedule of sports will also give a host of technologies the chance to grab some of the glory.
From training equipment bristling with sensors, sportswear fashioned from the latest performance-enhancing materials or new innovations in broadcasting, engineering and technology are increasingly closely related to sport.
And perhaps nowhere is this relationship at its most pronounced and controversial than when technology is used as a decision making tool.
The application of technology to make tough calls in the heat of a competition divides opinion. Some believe the umpire or referee should retain all responsibility, that human error is a desirable and dramatic part of the game, others that technology, if deployed correctly can improve the spectacle.
Tennis and Cricket have been perhaps the biggest adopters. Hawkeye, the ball trajectory prediction system, is now widely used in Tennis and occasionally in test match cricket, which has also made use of “hot spot” thermal imaging technology to determine whether a batsman has hit a ball. Meanwhile the use of Hawkeye in football, where it’s been proposed for making goal-line decisions is also the subject of fevered debate.
From an engineering perspective the application of technology to sport is a good thing: it’s a fascinating field that helps broaden the appeal of engineering and also, critically, offers a proving ground for technology ultimately destined for non-sporting applications. The ability to predict the trajectory of a spinning, swerving object or the use of thermal imaging systems to detect impact zones can easily be applied to other sectors. More cynically perhaps, the sports sector is a wholesome shop window for companies that could do with all the good publicity they can muster.
But where will it all end? In its bid proposal for the 2022 football world cup, Japan has promised the most high-tech event in the competition’s history. What are the chances that by then, the country which has led the world in the development of robots will bring us robotic referees with a neat multilingual line in put-downs for truculent players and imaging systems able to spot a dive in a nanosecond?
While we’re at it, if decision making in something as important as a football match is left to robots, why not replace our politicians with them? They certainly wouldn’t need a second home (they could just be switched off and plugged in by the cleaners at night) and they’d almost certainly make logical decisions.
What do you think of the use of technology to solve sporting dilemmas? As always, we welcome all of your comments.
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I’ve grown up watching and playing Sports that have used technology for as long back as I can remember.
Rugby League was the first major sport in the UK to bring in the Video Referee. There is naturally a pause in the action, but I’m sure if you ask every fan, they’d rather the correct decision be made.
There have been times when technology’s got it wrong, (last year’s Grand Final anyone??), but these are few and far between. Ultimately it’s no different than the on-field officials getting a decision wrong, just a lot-less common.
Sports are increasingly coming down to fractions of a second and officials under increasing pressure. Some decisions are now beyond the realm of human perceptually, now matter how good and official some things happen too fast for a human official to judge without the benefit of multi-angle slow-mo technology.
To be honest I think most Soccer (Football) fans would welcome the introduction of technology into officiating. In my opinion the problem lies with (to borrow a phrase from Will Carling) the “Old Farts” in charge. The powers-that-be in football a reticent to any sort of change as a result they’re still stuck with the antiquated, “One-Referee” philosophy. Recall the refusal of FIFA and the FA to introduce and extra Goal Line Judge following the Henry handball.
My God, is this what engineers are down to, football, cricket and other games that some human beings regard as important? All these games are meant to be recreational only and of no consequence to the public apart from easing the monotony of every day working existence.
There are far more important things for engineers to become involved in that affect the country and lives of people than sport.
If we taught our children to think seriously about becoming scientists, engineers and responsible citizens in general, instead of telling them they can get a knighthood more easily if they can pedal a bicycle faster than anyone else or kick a ball about, we’d start to make real progress.
Forget about connecting engineers with sport – let’s concentrate on proper projects that can help us get through life without too much strife.
Suitable technology properly applied can enhance the reduction of human errors. However for a fast paced game such as soccer the time delay in arriving at a decision based on techno;ogy will detyract from the “motion’ of a game.
The second referee is a better alternative.
As stated by the Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in its slogan for the Beijing Olympics ‘No games without Measurement’!
I think some use could be made of it to increase the spectacle.
To be sure, some sports like tennis do not suffer much from down time while hawkeye is called into play, and the crowd become enthusiastic during the playback – a bonus, and the punitive penalty for a wrong call is commensurate with the disruption: reduction in the amount of challenges left.
For a sport like football, a more punitive penalty should result because of the disruption – say a yellow card for the claimant if they wrongly challenge, red card if already yellow carded.
If this is too boring, what about a direct free kick on the edge of the opposition’s penalty area if they make a wrong claim.
In other words, lets not let technology drive the game, but let it back it up, with a consequence for crying wolf, that enhances the spectacle.
For those people that want engineers out of recreational, don’t go to Disney world .
How do you explain that countries with more technology are taking control of the sport competitions, with all those diagnosis and training helps.
did not you notice that technology have made possible the hole world able to see an event instantly alive and even those fans can have a better picture of what is happening and even judge the referees. why not help this professionals with the best technology.
We should stop saying that all times were always better when we are not going to live there anymore
Use of technology in sports like cricket ,has not made it more interesting from what it used to be in earlier days ,when men in white coat were the sole adjucators. Some luck/chance should always be a part of sports.
I agree that it is unfortunate that we expend time and effort in research and development of technology for things such as entertainment and sports. It would be better if we devoted the effort to health, nutrition, sustainability, education, etc.
However, that being said and recognizing that it is the free market that determines these kinds of things, I think that the use of technology in sports does not need to involve unnecessary delays in play.
Particularly with sensor technology, radio-frequency chips and nano-materials, the identification of an infraction (out of bounds, for example) can be identified immediately and signaled to the referees either by the presence of a light or buzzer or by a radio used by officiating crew who manage the technology remotely.
The bottom line is: sports referee technology is not limited to video and the dependence of humans to review the video. It may seem that way now, but it can soon advance to automatic alerts, etc.
See: http://historicalaccident.blogspot.com/2009/05/technology-and-sports-referees.html
We’re Rugby Union fans and well-used to waiting or the video referee. Frankly I can’t see what all the fuss is about. The anxiously awaited try or no-try decision is all part of the fun and at least it’s as accurate as it can be. Hawkeye on the goal line would be an obvious enhancement.
“My God, is this what engineers are down to, football, cricket and other games that some human beings regard as important? All these games are meant to be recreational only and of no consequence to the public apart from easing the monotony of every day working existence.
There are far more important things for engineers to become involved in that affect the country and lives of people than sport.
If we taught our children to think seriously about becoming scientists, engineers and responsible citizens in general, instead of telling them they can get a knighthood more easily if they can pedal a bicycle faster than anyone else or kick a ball about, we’d start to make real progress.
Forget about connecting engineers with sport – let’s concentrate on proper projects that can help us get through life without too much strife.”
This is the reason why I like these articles, they get away from the stuffy, unsmiling and unaccomodating attitudes demonstrated in the above post.
Lighten up and enjoy life before its gone!
Dear engineers,
If you are developing robot referee, please make Indonesia as your testing country. Because people in here have enough with human referees in our major league (football). They are too easy to bribe and make so many fool mistakes.
There should be precise robotic referees, if the technology is available. Sporting event are about the skill of the players involved, and the outcome should absolutely remain unaffected by human error/bias that invariably occurs when a human is judging a match.