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

Bäck, Amelie LU and Sempere Díaz, Irene LU (2020) In CODEN:LUTEDX/TEIE EIEM01 20201
Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation
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... (More)
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. (Less)
Popular Abstract
Nowadays, many industries are investing a lot of resources in new technologies to interpret hand gestures. However, this is not the case of the surveillance industries. Instead, the joystick and the mouse are the most common devices found in control rooms. Both work well but some operators report persistent pain after a demanding work day. Based on this, the purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the possibility of using hand gestures to control surveillance cameras. To verify the validity of the idea a prototype is developed to control Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras, with special emphasis on having an intuitive and ergonomic design.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Bäck, Amelie LU and Sempere Díaz, Irene LU
supervisor
organization
course
EIEM01 20201
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Hand gestures, PTZ cameras, surveillance, infrared sensors, ergonomics, intuitive, joystick
publication/series
CODEN:LUTEDX/TEIE
report number
5440
language
English
id
9014889
date added to LUP
2020-11-30 10:36:44
date last changed
2020-11-30 10:36:44
@misc{9014889,
  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.}},
  author       = {{Bäck, Amelie and Sempere Díaz, Irene}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{CODEN:LUTEDX/TEIE}},
  title        = {{Development of a device to move Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras using hand gestures}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}