You ever wonder what would happen if robots took over for referees in sports? Most don’t really care or see much about it happening. Using enough knowledge and information to make these robots is something that scientists are trying to do. It is all based on the technology to make them work right. Robots being referees isn’t something that most people really want but some do. Are robots really an option to replace human refs? Some refs may not like it because they’re taking over their job and they would not get paid.

Robotic Refs

“Although robotic referees can currently help with the more technical aspects, a robot cannot yet judge a human’s intent or behavior.” (Marc Andrada )A robotic ref can’t understand how a human feels or what his or her behavior is like. Robots can’t judge humans by their personality and how they felt about what they did. Since the Industrial Revolution, machines have been slowly taking over human jobs.

Robots and other mechanisms have been taking  over the world and people. Like they always say, Will robots take over the world soon? Robots for sure may take over the world. But robots being referees? Would people really like or appreciate that?  Especially some soccer fans might not necessarily be on board with a robotic referee — as seen by fans’ reactions to VAR at the 2017 FIFA World Cup — especially if human referee errors helped their team to win.” People need to know how they feel about their behavior and show respect to others.

Robots vs Refs

 Robotic referees may help professional athletes do better but that doesn’t mean those robots know how they feel about themselves. Referees don’t always play fairly,  from gambling with other teams and what not. The more money they get, the more the referees are going to be on the other side of the team. “Soccer teams and other sports teams alike could even have robotic players down the line.” Having robotic players down on the field with real players isn’t really the best. Players won’t know how to act when there’s robots out in the field. Robots are something that humans can’t really handle on their own.

Major Leagues

“This summer, teams in the AAA league – just one level below Major League Baseball itself – will use sophisticated technology to call balls and strikes on batters.” (Monitor’s Editorial Board) Calling out the balls that went out or are fouled, should be by humans or a computer. Robots may do a better job than humans but sometimes robots just don’t function as well as humans. Robots may have the technology to sense if the ball is out or not but sometimes it can not catch the eye of the ball.

International Soccer

“And this year FIFA, the body governing international soccer, will experiment with a system that aims to call offsides more quickly and accurately than human referees,” (Monitor’s Editorial Board). FIFA has had a hard time for some players because the ref may not call it offsides or if they slide tackle the other player. Most of them are on point but some  of the time, they’re not. Computers or robots for FIFA is actually a good idea. Not for looking cool or anything but to know what it’s doing and to see the vision of the players going offsides. How will the world of sports look for refereeing in the future?