Gesture Control: A New and Intelligent Man-Machine Interface

Abstract

AbstractAlthough investigated from early days of research in the domain of human-computer interfaces, gesture-based control of computer application entered in the everyday life of computer users with the advent of 3D infrared cameras. The usage of real-time depth-mapping cameras and of robust image processing applied the flow of depth map streams triggered the production of a plethora of applications ranging from controlling electronic games and electronic devices such as TV sets or set-top boxes, to e-learning, and sterile environments such as operating rooms. Gesture and motion-based control of computer applications received increased attention from both academic and industrial research groups for the unique interactive experiences it offers. Of particular research interest has been the control of games through gesture-based interface. In this chapter after a brief survey of the methods and technologies used in the gesture control area, a new and intelligent user interface based on a sequence of gestures linked in a gesture language through a sign grammar will be introduced and described. The gesture recognition language is based on image processing functions which are grouped in a combination of algorithmic and learning approaches. Applications of the gesture language in gaming, TV and set-top box control, e-learning and virtual reality-reality interaction illustrate the validity of the approach.KeywordsVirtual RealityGesture RecognitionHand GestureHand Gesture RecognitionGesture ControlThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.