Emerging Technology On Gesture Recognition

Amazing innovations have been heralded in the field of ICT. Before now, we have seen facial recognition system, voice recognition, tracking eye movement, and even lips tracking recognition. But another evolution has arisen in this field, and this is the technology of Gesture Recognition.

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Introduction

Gesture recognition is the interpretation of the motion of a human user by a computing or electronic device. This interpretation is mainly done through a pre-programmed mathematical algorithm.

The gestures can be generated from any part of the body (hand, face, leg), and these gestures can be used to interact with, or control electronic devices without the need to touch them physically.

In a layman's term, gesture recognition can be seen as:

A way through which computers and other electronic devices understand the body languages of humans.

Scientists have been trying to bridge the gap between humans and devices; here's one of the ways to achieve this.

Gesture Recognition enables effective Human-Machine Interaction (HMI), which is the major tool for the actualization of Enhanced Perceptual User Interface (ePUI).

Features of gesture recognition system

For a computer system to effectively fit into the definition of gesture recognition, it should have these three features:

1. Accuracy: It should be able to recognize and differentiate various body languages with high precision index.
2. Stability: An effective gesture recognition system should be able to maintain high stability in usage over time (not going on and off).
3. Prompt in response: It should be able to pick up signals from body movement at the instance the motion is made, and it should also be able to respond at the spot.

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Technologies related to gesture recognition

The major technology relating to gesture recognition is the Touchless Technology (Touchless User Interface; TUI). This is just like a system that gives command to the computer through gestures.

TUI technologies include:

• Wired gloves: These provide input into the computer system by tracking the rotation and movement of the hands electromagnetically. As the gloves move, signals are sent to the TUI for processing of the command. The wired gloves also generate light pulses which can detect the movement of each finger independently.

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• Depth-awareness camera: This is not just ordinary camera, it is an advanced version of the depth-resolution camera. It picks up a 3D representation of whatever objects it is seeing.

Algorithm of gesture model

There are different ways to analyze and track gestures though various algorithms. This is summarized in the image below:

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Application of gesture recognition

There are many current and potential applications of gesture recognition, these include:

• In gaming (especially in VR gaming)
• In automotive industry (driving of cars through gestures)
• In consumer electronics
• In the military
• In home automation system

The applications are so numerous to be fully listed here.

Technology can only get better.

TECH RULES!!

References for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4