Development of a device to move Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras using hand gestures

Abstract: Nowadays, many industries are investing a lot of resources in the development of new technologies that interpret hand gestures and use them as a communication interface between the user and the system. However, the surveillance industries have remained on the sidelines of this technological development. Instead, the joystick and the mouse are the most common devices found in control rooms. Using them together with a Video Management System, the operators are able to drive the cameras and navigate between different views. Both devices fulfill their functions successfully but some operators report persistent pain after a demanding work day. Based on the points made above, the purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the possibility of using hand gestures as an interface to control surveillance cameras and design the hand gesture vocabulary to be used. To verify the validity of the idea a prototype will be developed to control Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras, with special emphasis on having an intuitive and ergonomic design. Throughout the project different solutions to solve the touch-free control of the cameras have been discussed and investigated. The most suitable concept found was to attach infrared sensors to a pyramid shaped case, in such a way that several sensors could be used to create a sensing field. By measuring the exact position of the hand at all times, the gestures made by the user could be interpreted by the system. The infrared sensors have proven to be very good at sensing the distance to soft materials such as hands with an accuracy of one millimeter. The results obtained from the usability test made in this thesis show that the device is intuitive for the users and the potential of the device is also remarked for surveillance applications. In addition, the results show that the readings made by the sensors are very precise and that the interpretation of the achieved data into gestures works satisfyingly. However, even though the given results were mainly positive, it shows that there is still work left to do in order for the device to be competing with the joystick.