The gesture pendant: a self-illuminating, wearable, infrared computer vision system for home automation control and medical monitoring

Abstract

In this paper we present a wearable device for control of home automation systems via hand gestures. This solution has many advantages over traditional home automation interfaces in that it can be used by those with loss of vision, motor skills, and mobility. By combining other sources of context with the pendant we can reduce the number and complexity of gestures while maintaining functionality. As users input gestures, the system can also analyze their movements for pathological tremors. This information can then be used for medical diagnosis, therapy, and emergency services. Currently, the Gesture Pendant can recognize control gestures with an accuracy of 95% and user-defined gestures with an accuracy of 97%. It can detect tremors above 2 HZ within /spl plusmn/.1 Hz.