Before trying robot judges, let's learn from robot referees

That type of extended and bitter debate

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repeats any time the governing body of any sport considers adding technology to the mix. Those constant conversations caught the attention of Meg Jones and Karen Levy, who study law and technology at Georgetown and Cornell, respectively.

Jones says it’s quite tricky to figure out how people feel about the law enforcement technologies she studies, like automatic cameras at traffic lights, police body cameras, and courtroom computer programs. But she found that when you ask people what they think about the use of automated technology to enforce rules in sports, they express much stronger opinions. “We had the realization that people are really, really good at talking about it,” Jones says. “They have very developed and articulate reasons for why they feel the way that they do.”

With that in mind, the pair set out to understand the way different sports made decisions about the use of technology to enforce rules, with the goal of providing a framework to understand the way people feel about automated enforcement in the legal system more generally. They presented the results of that research at the annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science last week. Though the rules of a sport and the laws of society aren’t exactly in the same ballpark, Jones says, the comparison is useful. “We are having the same conversations, so there might be something to learn from sport.”