Towards Contactless, Hand Gestures-Based Control of Devices

Gesture-based intuitive interactions with electronic devices can be an important part of smart home systems. In this paper, we adapt the contactless linear gesture sensor for the navigation of smart lighting system. Set of handled gestures allow to propose two methods of active light source selection, continuous dimming, and turning on and off based on discrete gestures. The average gesture recognition accuracy was 97.58% in the first of proposed methods of lamp selection and 95.45% in the second method. Apart of the accuracy of the gesture sensor in the real case implementation the user convenience of navigation was monitored. 72.73% of users pointed the first method as more intuitive and convenient to use. 63.64% of users indicated that the dimming of light is more intuitive when moving a hand along the sensor than closing it towards the package. The impact of utilizing dirty or gloved hand on the pose recognition accuracy of the sensor was verified as well. The results indicate the capability of incorporating considered touchless gesture sensor to homes, factories or operating rooms. These are places where the need of the functionality of discrete and continuous gestures for handling some basic devices or functions can be limited due to dirty hand scenarios or sterility requirements.