Using gestures to interact with home automation systems

Abstract

Homes and working spaces are considered significant contributors of energy consumption and carbon emissions worldwide. Previous studies in the field of home-and building automation have demonstrated the sustainability gain brought by smart home solutions, in terms of energy-efficiency, economic savings, and enhanced living and working conditions.A major barrier, however, to the adoption of these solutions is the complexity and limited usability of user interfaces. As a response to these challenges, this study investigates the use of gestures as a natural way of controlling and interacting with home automation systems.Using the available motion capture technology, a gesture dictionary will be defined as a set of meaning actions in free-form and in-air movements. A usability test will be conducted to measure the resulting socio-technical aspects. Lastly, the study will present the analysis and effects of gestures control for a higher up-take of smart home solutions towards designing and maintaining buildings of the future that are both user-centric and resource efficient to reduce our overall carbon footprint.iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe author extends his sincerest gratitude to the following people who made this graduate thesis possible and a worthwhile endeavor.To Prof. Olaf Droegehorn, my thesis supervisor, for the utmost patience and sincerity for keeping up with my quirks. After all the long consultation hours spent during the formulation, implementation and documentation of the thesis, and personal mentoring that made this study possible, thank you very much.To Prof. Jean-Philippe Georges, Prof. Jari Porras, and Prof. Karl Andersson, the country coordinators, for the knowledge shared during the early stages of the thesis, and the appraisals given with our accomplishments during final presentation of this thesis.To Prof. Eric Rondeau, the PERCCOM programme coordinator, who inspired me to pursue this undertaking with hopes of realizing the real-world applications of technology and innovation to help address issues on sustainability. Thank you for choosing to grant me this Erasmus Mundus Master scholarship, and for the trust as I fulfill my duties as the former Erasmus Mundus Association programme representative for PERCCOM.To the PERCCOM Consortium, the faculty of professors from our different universities, and the industrial partners who guided me in shaping the knowledge that helped me accomplish the tasks needed in this research.To all the university and administrative staffs from France, Finland, Russia, United Kingdoms, Sweden, and Germany, especially to Caroline Schrepff, our very hardworking PERCCOM secretary, for the time they dedicated in answering my questions, preparing necessary documents for us, and for making sure of our smooth mobility from different countries.To the European Commission responsible for the Erasmus+ programmes, for this one-of-a-kind learning experience of sharing myself with the world. Thank you!