Development of a Light-Tracking and -Redirecting System Actuated by Hand-Gesture Recognition

This paper presents a context-aware light-tracking and -redirecting system guided by hand-gesture recognition. It is conceived as yet another mechanism within an ongoing development of a more intuitive and technically sophisticated Ambient Intelligence / Active and Assisted Living ecosystem. The detailed system consists of individual nodes that are strategically installed across regions of a building-envelope, which enables this latter to draw or deflect direct natural light into or away from specific locations within the built-environment as requested by the user(s) via recognized hand-gestures. Each node is capable of sending and receiving sensed-data continuously via ZigBee with one another as well as with microcontrollers embedded within the interior built-environment. Said microcontrollers are equipped with cameras via which four hand-gestures may be recognized. The first or initializing hand-gesture engages the system and enables it to recognize any of the remaining hand-gestures. The second redirects light towards the position of the detected hand-gesture, while the third redirects it away from said position. Finally, the fourth gesture turns the light-tracking and -redirecting system off.