Public Thesis Defense of Arthur SLUYTERS

Public thesis defense of Arthur SLUYTERS

"An Integrated Development Environment for Gesture-based Interactive Applications: Instantiation to Radar Gestures"

When: 18/03/2024 at 10 AM

Where: Ocean room - de Serres building LLN + TEAMS LINK

Chairman:
Prof. Peter VAN ROY (UCLouvain)

Supervisors:
Prof. Sébastien Lambot (UCLouvain)
Prof. Jean Vanderdonckt (UCLouvain)

Other jury members:
Prof. Suzanne Kieffer (UCLouvain), secretary
Prof. Luis A. Leiva (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)
Prof. Paolo Roseli (University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Italy)

Abstract

Imagine controlling your TV or Virtual Reality headset with just a flick of the hand, as easily as swiping on your smartphone. These gestures, known as “mid-air” gestures, are closer than you may think, thanks to recent technological improvements. They offer plenty of benefits compared to more traditional input methods, by allowing greater freedom of movement, eliminating the need for physical touch, and making interactions feel more natural and enjoyable.

However, mid-air gestures come with a unique set of challenges. First, how can we accurately capture and interpret these movements in real-time? The system should be lightning-fast, reliable, and intuitive, without imposing constraints on the user. Then, how should we integrate these gestures into everyday applications? Crafting a highly usable gesture-based interface currently requires many hard-to-come-by skills, including expertise in gesture recognition, application development, and user experience design.

This thesis directly addresses these challenges by proposing innovative solutions to foster the development of gesture-based interfaces, in the form of tools and methodologies. Our exploration focuses on the use of radar sensors for gesture recognition, which boast a compact form factor, low power consumption, and the ability to detect gestures through solid surfaces and in challenging lighting conditions, all while preserving user privacy.