A team of trainees from Cornell university are looking into alternate methods of producing a safety and security system that can be locked or unlocked by utilizing physical gestures in an enclosed space.
It is the final year job for [Ankur], [Darshan] as well as [Saisrinivasan] in their MEng of Electrical as well as computer Engineering. The system prototype is capable of recording a gesture as well as then comparing the gesture with future gestures to lock or unlock the system. think about it like a trick handshake to get into the office!
To evaluate the gesture they are utilizing four SparkFun proximity sensors configuration in a linear range to sense the distance a hand is moved. An ATMega1284P is utilized to convert the analog sensor signal to digital for even more processing. The job is incredibly well documented, as it appears to be the final report for the project.
A short video after the break shows off the prototype as well as provides a great explanation of exactly how the system works.