This article is part of our continuing Fast Forward series, which examines technological, economic, social and cultural shifts that happen as businesses evolve.

STUTTGART, Germany — The rectangular gray boxes arrayed around the floor at the gymnastics world championships this week are easy enough to ignore.

But these little boxes, 30 of them in all, hold outsize significance: According to Morinari Watanabe, the president of the International Gymnastics Federation, their presence at the worlds signals “the beginning of the new history of gymnastics.”

The robot judges, in other words, have arrived.

Amid the displays of athleticism and artistry at this week’s championships, there also has emerged a development in technology that could hint at the trajectory of officiating across the sports landscape.