Gesture Recognition: What It Is, How It Works

What is hand gesture recognition?

If you are an active user of online communication platforms, you can't help but wonder what else their developers can come up with to make remote work and collaboration even more convenient and productive. While they announce calls arranged in augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR), you still haven't worked out how to use gesture recognition.

Let's figure it out together. After all, our Whoosh team has also implemented it, and we can't wait for you to start using it.

First, a little bit of theory.

Hand gesture recognition is an up-and-coming technology that has a variety of potential applications. One such application is online communication. In a video meeting, a gesture recognition system can be used to control the user interface and interact with other participants. Users can adjust the volume of voice and the position of a window on the screen, virtually raise hands, or share their reactions with sign language. This smart feature can also be used to recognize emotions by analyzing the leap motion. Besides, such technology is often used for voice recognition. You must have noticed that our app (and many others like Google Meet) is able to detect who is speaking right now.

How can computers interpret human gestures?

When you wave your hand during a call and Whoosh shows the corresponding emoji to your interlocutors, it takes only one second. But what happens in that second within the app itself?

Gesture recognition technology is a rather complex process. During the recognition process, the computer reads data from the camera in real-time and then uses it to execute user commands. Most often, a combination of infrared and 3D cameras with depth sensors and machine learning are used to recognize human hand gestures and finger positions.

The whole process of this human-computer interaction is divided into three stages:

• Detection: using the camera, the app identifies hand or body movements, and a machine learning algorithm segments the image to find the edges and positions of the hands.
• Tracking: the app tracks users' movements frame by frame so it doesn't miss a single one and identifies everything correctly.
• Recognition: AI tries to find patterns based on the accumulated data. When it finds a match and interprets the gesture, it performs the action associated with it.
  

Whew, hope you didn't get too bored with us! Now let's talk about more fun things. But first, an interesting fact.

Did you know that recent reports show that the size of the market of gesture recognition was valued at $14.08 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach a compound annual growth rate of 19.1% from 2022 to 2030? Sounds like a good idea for investments, huh?

What benefits does gesture recognition software bring?

We are human beings. We like to express emotions through gestures. We smile, we laugh, and sometimes we cry. And, surprisingly, our emotions can help us save time in video meetings. But how?

More control over large-scale events

In meetings with a large number of participants, it can be difficult to take the floor, ask something, or draw attention to yourself. That's what gesture recognition helps with. The computer vision works faster and therefore will notice you faster, no matter how many people are involved in the call. Together with Whoosh and our smart AI, you can easily raise a virtual hand, share a reaction to the speaker's words, or quickly mute the sound if there are loud distracting noises in the room.

Stronger connections

Gesture recognition can also help to build connections with other attendees, enhancing the collaborative nature of video meetings. Here, on Whoosh, you can send emojis and share reactions just by simple hand movements and by making funny faces.

More effective meeting process

By allowing participants to control their environment and access features quickly and easily, the app reduces the time they might spend searching for a particular button or setting.

Better understanding of ideas and concepts

What's more, gesture recognition systems can improve understanding within a team by allowing for a more visual presentation of information.

Sense of transparency

Finally, this feature can create a sense of transparency and trust by showing that people are engaged and paying attention.

What else to try

Don't think that we at Whoosh are just about hand tracking. Our powerful AI and deep learning algorithms are also capable of recognizing emotions! And even more. Have a look:

Emotion recognition

Whoosh is the best way to read and react to emotions in video meetings. Using our patented technology, we can accurately and instantly detect the feelings of the people you are talking to - in real time! This means that during a video call, you'll be able to see the emotions of a person on the other end as emojis. No more guessing how they're feeling!

Mementos

It can be tough to keep track of everything that happened during a meeting - especially if it was long or involved a lot of people. Fortunately, we’ve got a new AI-based tool that can help with that: Mementos. It analyzes a meeting recording and creates a short recap with all the highlights and a transcript. No more chasing down notes or trying to remember what happened last week. Whoosh helps you stay focused, informed, and in control.

Touch-up tools

Sometimes there are things happening during a video call that you want to touch up before someone notices them. Whether you need to adjust your hair, fix a smudge on your shirt, or take care of any other visibility issues, Whoosh has you covered. With our fantastic AR filters, 3D backgrounds, and photorealistic avatars nothing will ruin the experience.

Weatherman layout

Our unique weatherman layout is a great way to make your presentations more engaging and visually appealing. With it, you can show your materials while displaying yourself in front of them, just like a weatherman. This layout is perfect for teaching or presenting to a group, as it allows taking full control of your slides and helps everyone easily follow along. No more wondering what to do with your hands or fidgeting with papers - with Whoosh, all you have to do is talk!

To wrap things up

There are many different video chat apps with gesture recognition. Take a raise hand feature in Zoom, for instance. But, if you want to experience the best in immersive video calling, you need to choose Whoosh.

Whoosh offers an unbeatable video conferencing experience that is second to none. With it, you can see and interact with your colleagues, partners, and clients as if you were in the same room. And, with gesture recognition, you can control everything with just your hands.

So, if you want to make the most out of your video calls, be sure to choose Whoosh.