@article {13159, title = {Employing the Hand as an Interface Device}, journal = {Journal of Multimedia}, volume = {1}, year = {2006}, month = {2006/11/01/}, abstract = {We propose algorithms and applications for using the hand as an interface device in virtual and physical spaces. In virtual drawing, by tracking the hand in 3-D and estimating a virtual plane in space, the intended drawing of user is recognized. In a virtual marble game, the instantaneous orientation of the hand is simulated to render a graphical scene of the game board. Real-time visual feedback allows the user to navigate a virtual ball in a maze. In 3-D model construction, the system tracks the hand motion in space while the user is traversing edges of a physical object. The object is then rendered virtually by the computer. These applications involve estimating the 3-D absolute position and/or orientation of the hand in space. We propose parametric modelling of the central region of the hand to extract this information. A stereo camera is used to first build a preliminary disparity map of the hand. Then, the best fitting plane to the disparity points is computed using robust estimation. The 3-D hand plane is calculated based on the disparity plane and the position and orientation parameters of the hand. Tracking the hand region over a sequence of frames and coping with noise using robust modelling of the hand motion enables estimating the trajectory of the hand in space. The algorithms are real-time and experiments are presented to demonstrate the proposed applications of using the hand as an interface device.}, isbn = {1796-2048}, doi = {10.4304/jmm.1.7.18-29}, url = {http://www.ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/jmm/article/viewArticle/01071829}, author = {Sepehri,Afshin and Yacoob,Yaser and Davis, Larry S.} }