Hand Gesture Recognition Using Neural Networks

摘要

Gestural interfaces have the potential of enhancing control operations innumerous applications. For Air Force systems, machine-recognition of whole-hand gestures may be useful as an alternative controller, especially when conventional controls are less accessible. The objective of this effort was to explore the utility of a neural network-based approach to the recognition of whole-hand gestures. Using a fiber-optic instrumented glove, gesture data were collected for a set of static gestures drawn from the manual alphabet used by the deaf. Two types of neural networks (multilayer perceptron and Kohonen self-organizing feature map) were explored. Both showed promise, but the perceptron model was quicker to implement and classification is inherent in the model. The high gesture recognition rates and quick network retraining times found in the present study suggest that a neural network approach to gesture recognition be further evaluated.