redbot-hands-free-control | Robot Hands Free Control using Leap Motion 's hand sensing

redbot-hands-free-control is a C library typically used in Internet of Things (IoT) applications. redbot-hands-free-control has no bugs, it has no vulnerabilities and it has low support. You can download it from GitHub.

Ever since I first saw the Leap Motion Hand Tracking Controller, I’ve been fascinated by the potential of what can be done with this fantastic device. Leap Motion has not only developed a device that can track your hands, but through their software, they can tell you every characteristic about your hands. With great accuracy, they can tell you every aspect of your left, right, or both hands; they can tell you the pitch, roll, and yaw of the palm of your hand; they can tell you how many fingers you have extended along with the length and direction of each segment of each finger on each hand (including your thumb). With this device and its accompanying software, you can use your hands as input devices to control any aspect that is controllable through your computer. The potential of this device is limitless!. With this in mind, I wanted to start with a simple device that can be controlled with just hand gestures. This, I’m doing to become familiar with the use of the Leap Motion Controller along with its software and to just have some fun. What I came up with is the software that allows you to control a SparkFun Redbot robot with just your hands in free space. The Redbot robot is a basic robot platform that has two wheels where each one is driven independently along with a third pivot point. So in order to control this robot, you’ll need throttle control for forward and reverse along with directional control for straight, left or right. I decided to use a single hand to control the device with the pitch of the palm to control the throttle and roll for directional control. And now, how am I communicating with the Redbot? Good thing that you asked! I just happened to have several Digi XBee wireless RF modules left over from an early project that should fit the bill. And the best part is that the controller board on the Redbot is already fitted with the proper connector to support an XBee module. I just love it when things work out for the better! In addition to the one XBee module for the Redbot, I have two others. Both of these modules are mounted on SparkFun Explorer boards that includes an FTDI to USB chip, so all you’ll have to do is plug the module into the explorer board and then plug the explorer board into an open USB port on your computer and you’re all set. Now you may ask, why do I need two modules connected to my computer? Again, good question! We will be using one as a transceiver to communicate with the XBee module on the Redbot and the second one that will be used to monitor all communications between the computer and the Redbot through the use of a serial terminal window. This article describes the required hardware and software that provides you with the ability to control a SparkFun Redbot using the Leap Motion Controller. This article contains the firmware that you will be loading onto the SparkFun Redbot along with the application that you will be running on your host computer that allows you to control the robot without any contact to any device.