On October 7, 2017, The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), which regulates Gymnastics disciplines internationally, and Fujitsu Limited announced that they have agreed to collaborate on implementing a judging support system for Artistic Gymnastics competitions. In collaboration, FIG and Fujitsu will carry out data capture and field trials in order to achieve fair and accurate, real-time judging support for Artistic Gymnastics that can be launched in 2020. From 2016, Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., and the Japan Gymnastics Association have been conducting joint research on judging support technology for Artistic Gymnastics competitions. Now, based on this technology, FIG, which oversees regional and national gymnastics organizations, establishes gymnastics rules, and hosts international competitions, and Fujitsu have agreed to work together to launch a judging support system in order to achieve consistently fair and accurate, real-time judging support. Under the agreement, Fujitsu, for the first time at a World Championship, captured competition data at the 47th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Montreal, Canada, from October 2nd to 8th. The data will be used to further develop the judging support system.
With the aim of making the system available for practical use in 2020, the partners will acquire data of athletes competing in international competitions and continue development of the system, which will be put to test use at the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, taking place in Doha, Qatar.
In addition to the scores given by the judges at the competitions, this system will support them to come to a more accurate judgment by capturing the gymnasts' movements with a 3D laser sensor and analyzing them as numerical data.