Interactive Remote Laboratories with Gesture Based Interface through Microsoft Kinect

Traditionally remote laboratory experiments are performed by providing inputs either by keying using a keypad or through mouse movement and clicking. These methods lack in providing real-time experience (touch) of the knobs (operation) of the instruments to the learners. In undergraduate and mainly in high school education, many experiments particularly in physics, chemistry and engineering involve a set of physical interaction with the instruments rather than just typed inputs from a keypad. In this paper, we discuss the gesture-based approach which allows learners to provide inputs using physical movement of the hand (or gestures) which are captured by Microsoft Kinect. We show that gesture-based interface provide more interesting and immersive ways to perform real-time experiments in remote laboratories.