Wheelchair operated by using hand gestures

KOCHI: Moving objects by the turn of a hand or by snapping fingers have been the kinds of things sci-fi and fantasy movies were made of, but not any more. Students of Amrita University have developed a wheelchair control system which can be operated by using hand gestures. This will prove to be a boon for elderly and physically-disabled.Last month, this technology called ‘GEST-BOT’ was showcased at a national-level contest ‘Innovation Jockeys’, which was jointly organised by Yahoo and Accenture in Bangalore. The innovation bagged the first prize under the ‘home category’.The device aims at doing away with the conventional control methods for motorised wheelchairs such as joysticks, keypads etc, which need the use of physical force and call for complicated usages. In addition, they are very expensive.The ‘GEST-BOT’ uses a small camera mounted close to the user’s hand to detect the movements of the hand. Following this, the image captured by the camera identifies the hand gesture by the user. The users can even customise gestures for each movement of the device, according to his/her abilities and needs, thereby, making it of great advantage for the people who suffer from extreme disability.A team of three - Ramesh Nair, Sai Manoj and Mithun Mohanan, developed the technology. Another technology developed by the students of the university which received acclaim at the event is the ‘Smart Traffic Controller’. The technology developed by the team comprising Vineeth Mohan, Paul Leons, Rizwan Hooja and Ajay Mohanan won the Accenture Tech Vision Special Winner award.The technology looks at installing small devices called motes in the vehicles to form a wireless network. These devices which can be detected by each vehicle within the network and the traffic control room can use it to monitor traffic density and detect accidents and overspeeding on the roads.