1. Introduction
Processing speeds of computers have increased dramatically, and computers have advanced to a point where they can assist humans in complex tasks. However, the major bottleneck in this is still the input. Users spend majority of their time inputting the information. Thus the total time required for performing any job would still be dependent on the time taken for providing the input to the machines.
Thus working on automating the input entering process using the technology could come to the rescue. Recognising this potential, a lot of growth has been made in the ‘Gesture Recognition Technology’. Now, gestures can be used as a form of input. They will help in bridging the gap between humans and machines. Now, with the advent of this technology, the need of a physical touch on the machine would be eliminated, and the machines would be able to interpret these gestures and operate. Using the concept of gesture recognition, it would be possible to point a finger at the computer screen so that the cursor will move accordingly. This could potentially make the potential input devices such as mouse, keyboard redundant.
The report presents the details of the ‘Gesture Recognition Technology’, throws light on the fields where the technology can be applied, provides the technical know-how of the technology- how it works, and discusses the major solution Providers along with the product offerings. The report concludes with the mentioning possible issues which could limit the wide spread of the technology. 2. Gesture Recognition Technology
Gesture recognition technology allows users to interact with their devices using simple and natural hand gestures. It utilizes advanced image processing and machine vision algorithms to track a user's hand gestures and convert them into commands. They also allow for detecting natural and intuitive hand gestures such as GRAB (closing of the hand) which supports all mouse functionalities including mouse left-click, double click, right-click and drag & drop. Also, the unique algorithms can simultaneously detect and track two hands, allowing for natural gestures such as zoom and rotate. These commands are then used to control the functions and applications of the devices. The technology is independent of the underlying underlying processor and camera hardware and produces high quality gesture recognitions using as low as a VGA resolution camera.
Moreover, the technology is designed for embedded platforms. It is optimized to function using minimal CPU and power consumption and supports challenging user environments with poor as well as direct lighting conditions. The technology can be integrated on various levels of the device; on the chipset level, operating system, as part of the camera module as well as integrated in application level.
The below screenshots show the various gestures that are interpreted by the machines such as the system monitor, the smart TV, the smart phone and the tablet.
TV and Set-top Boxes:

The technology can be utilized in control of TV functions and features where gesture recognition takes the form of fingertip tracking among others. This allows for virtual remote-control functions from afar, even in a dynamic multi-person environment using face detection capabilities.

Portable Computers:
The technology can be used in the computers as well. For instance one may easily control the volume while watching a movie, skip to the next track when playing music, scroll to the next page on an e-book, all with the natural gestures of a hand. Likewise business users can flip through presentation slides without shifting their focus from the audience.

In-car Infotainment System:

It also facilitates both in-car as well as in-flight infotainment systems. Rather than seeking a specific key or pressing on a particular point on the touch-screen, the user may control the device at ease without distractions using hand gestures. While driving the user can answer a call, switch navigation viewing modes, change channels on the radio, and more.
Mobile Phones:

The Gesture Recognition technology in mobile phones presents capabilities which will allow users to control features and applications without a single touch. For instance, a simple hand gesture above the device will silence incoming calls during a meeting, scroll between photos in the gallery, and even play mobile games incorporating real hand gestures, etc. 3. Understanding Gestures
The primary goal of gesture recognition research is to create a system which can identify specific human gestures and use them to convey information or for device control. The first step in considering gesture based interaction with computers is to understand the role of gesture in human to human communication.
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body.
A broad classification of the gestures has been laid down by Cadoz (1994): a. Semiotic: those used to communicate meaningful information. b. Ergotic: those used to manipulate the physical world and create artifacts. c. Epistemic: those used to learn from the environment through tactile or haptic exploration
The report focuses mainly on communicating with the computer, so the emphasis is on ‘Semiotic’ gestures.
Application domain Classification
Gestures can be categorized to fit into the following application domain classifications:- a. Pre-emptive Gestures
A pre-emptive natural hand gesture occurs when the hand is moving towards a specific control (device/ appliance) and the detection of the hand approaching is used to pre-empt the operators intent to operate a particular control.
Examples of such gesture could include operation of the interior light; as the hand is detected approaching the light switch the light could switch on. If the hand is detected approaching the light switch again it would switch off, thus the hand movement to and from the device being controlled could be used as a pre-emptive gesture.

b. Function Associated Gestures
Function Associated gestures are those gestures that use the natural action of the arm/hand/other body part to associate or provide a cognitive link to the function being controlled. For example, moving the arm in a circles pivoted about the elbow towards the fan could be used to signify that the operators’ wish to switch on the fan. Such gestures have an action that can be associated with a particular function.

c. Context Sensitive Gestures
Context Sensitive gestures are natural hand gestures that are used to respond to operator prompts or automatic events. Possible context sensitive gestures to indicate yes/no or accept/reject could be thumbs-up and a thumbs-down. These could be used to answer or reject an incoming phone call, an incoming voice message or an incoming SMS text message. d. Global Shortcut Gestures
Global shortcut gestures are in fact natural symbolic gestures that can be used at any time, the term natural refers to the use of natural hand gestures that are typically used in human to human communications. It is expected that hand gestures will be selected whereby the user can easily link the gesture to the function being controlled. Possible applications could include fairly frequently used controls that present unwanted high visual workload, such as phone dial home, phone dial work.

e. Natural Dialogue Gestures
Natural dialogue hand gestures utilize natural gestures as used in human to human communication to initiate a gesture dialogue with the vehicle, typically this would involve two gestures being used although only one gesture at any given time. For example if a person fanned his hand in front of his face, the gesture system could detect this and interpret that he is too hot and would like to cool down.

4. Technology Used- here discuss the technical part 5. Applications in various fields 6. Issues