Gesture-Controlled Robot

Gesture-Controlled Robot

How It Works

• The MPU6050 on the hand controller continuously reports acceleration and tilt angle over I2C to a transmitting microcontroller.
• The transmitter classifies the tilt pattern (forward tilt, backward tilt, left/right tilt) into a discrete command and sends it wirelessly (RF or Bluetooth) to the robot.
• The robot's receiver decodes the command and drives its motor driver accordingly — forward, backward, left turn, or right turn.
• A dead-zone threshold around neutral tilt prevents small hand tremors from triggering unintended movement.

Components

2x Arduino Uno/Nano (transmitter + robot)
MPU6050 accelerometer/gyroscope module
RF (nRF24L01) or Bluetooth (HC-05 pair) wireless link
Motor driver (L298N) + DC gear motors + wheels
Hand glove/controller mount
Battery packs (transmitter + robot)

Applications

• Intuitive robot control interfaces
• Assistive control for users who find joysticks difficult
• Educational demonstration of IMU-based motion sensing

Advantages

• More natural, intuitive control than a joystick or app buttons
• Demonstrates real-time sensor fusion and wireless command transmission
• Dead-zone tuning keeps control stable against hand tremor

Sample Code — Tilt Classification (Transmitter Side)

// Simplified tilt-to-command classification - Arduino + MPU6050
#include 
#include 
MPU6050 mpu;

void setup() {
  Wire.begin();
  mpu.initialize();
  Serial.begin(9600); // to RF/Bluetooth transmitter
}

void loop() {
  int16_t ax, ay, az;
  mpu.getAcceleration(&ax, &ay, &az);

  char command = 'S'; // stop by default
  if (ay > 8000)      command = 'F'; // tilt forward
  else if (ay < -8000) command = 'B'; // tilt backward
  else if (ax > 8000)  command = 'R'; // tilt right
  else if (ax < -8000) command = 'L'; // tilt left

  Serial.println(command); // send to robot
  delay(100);
}

Related Research

• Hand Gesture Controlled Robot using Arduino and MPU6050 — ResearchGate