3D Gesture Recognition for Human-Computer Interaction

The keyboard and mouse are currently the maininterfaces between man and computer. In other areas where 3Dinformation is required, such as computer games, robotics and design,other mechanical devices such as roller-balls, joysticks anddata-gloves are used. Humans communicate mainly by vision andsound, therefore, a man-machine interface would be more intuitive if itmade greater use of vision and audio recognition.Gesture recognition pertains to recognizing meaningful expressionsof motion by a human, involving the hands, arms, face, head, and/orbody. It is of utmost importance in designing an intelligent andefficient human-computer interface. The applications of gesturerecognition are manifold, ranging from sign language through medicalrehabilitation to virtual reality. The present invention provides asystem for recognizing gestures made by a moving subject. Thegesture recognizer recognizes a gesture of the human being based onmovement of the hand identified by the hand recognizer.