February 28, 2014

Human computer interaction bridges 'digital divide'

Want to communicate with your computer or television in a more natural way than using a mouse or remote? Keen to change TV channels, switch on the DVD player or simply switch off an irritating presenter or program with the wave of a hand? A new book by a UOW academic now available on Amazon highlights how Hand Gesture Recognition (HGR) systems now bring hope of connecting people with their machines in such a manner.

The book, 'Human Computer Interaction using Hand Gestures', has been authored by Dr Prashan Premaratne from the School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering.

Dr Premaratne said that human computer interaction plays a vital role in bridging the 'digital divide', bringing people closer to consumer electronics control in the "lounge".

"Keyboards and mouse or remotes do alienate old and new generations alike from control interfaces," he said.

He said that HGR would lead to consumers being able to use their hands naturally to communicate with any electronic equipment. Dr Premaratne has been involved in developing a box device with a built-in camera which can recognise simple hand gestures and work with various gadgets around the home.

His book includes the state-of-the-art hand gesture recognition approaches and how they evolved from their inception. It details his research in this area for the past eight years and how the future might turn out to be using human computer interaction.