Ubiquitous computing has opened up immense possibilities in smart home automation. In the course Software Development for Portable Devices during my undergrad, we explored the possibilities of controlling smart home devices using hand gestures.

Leap Motion Controller is a sensor-based device that recognizes hand gestures and finger motions without direct contact. The data captured by the hardware is sent to a computing device via USB, where it is analysed and the output is generated. The technology is fairly accurate in identifying distinct gestures.

By taking advantage of Leap Motion Controller, we developed a program on the host device to send the data to Firebase real-time database. On the other end, we programmed a Node MCU chip to operate different LEDs based on the database logic.

By performing this experiment, we were able to successfully transfer the data captured from Leap Motion Controller to a smart home appliances. Thus, we could effectively use hand gestures to control the devices almost instantly.

Leap Motion Controller can be used to automate smart home appliances, and our implementation provides an easy solution to control them. With dedicated efforts, multi-purpose models can be configured with Leap Motion Controller to provide smart home setups suitable for everyday use.

Check out the project on GitHub.