ABSTRACT
Technological advances and the development and refinement of procedures have been and continue to be a hallmark of sport and exercise science (Winter et al., 2007). In the fast-changing world of technologies, it is therefore important for sports scientists and coaches to be able to look ahead and position themselves at the forefront of new developments so that these may become part of everyday assessment of training and competition. The technology used to measure performance will no doubt continue to move forward in the way it already has done over recent years. New and improved methods based on ‘state-of-the-art’ computer technology and robotic automation for measuring and analysing performance are being continually developed and commercialised to help in the relentless
Introduction 200
Physiological measurements 201
Virtual reality 206
The Internet 208
Expert systems, artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms and hybrid systems 210
Conclusion 214
References 215
CHAPTER CONTENTS
pursuit of success in elite sport. The broad range of research programmes in sport and exercise would benefit enormously from an ability to collect data unobtrusively and without hindering movement or performance (Armstrong, 2007). Technology has already gone some way in improving this first step in the assessment process by opening doors for major advances that have ultimately led to miniaturisation, increased reliability, user-friendliness and cost reduction of measurement equipment. The processing of data and reporting of results and their practical application have also vastly improved thanks to greater calculation power, speed and interactivity of computer equipment.
