How many times have you put yourself to bed and realized you left that upstairs bathroom light on? Annoying to get out of that pool of comfort to walk what seems far more than a few steps. Well, if you wish you could simply flick your wrist and it would turn off, you're in luck. With new gesture control technology developed for the entire home, it could soon be called the 21^st century clap-on, clap-off.

Computer scientists from the University of Washington have developed a gesture recognition technology, dubbed WiSee, the first wireless system that can identify motions through walls and out of sight. Similar to the Xbox Kinect, yet much simpler, cheaper, and not to mention far less limiting. The Kinect functions by a person standing in front of the camera as it recognizes their gestures. WiSee is an intelligent device that needs no camera set up, essentially monitoring all wireless communications from various devices throughout the home.
By relying on microscopic signals from WiFi routers as opposed to cameras and other sensors, signals are light and most importantly, transferable through walls. Hence, a connection is easily established between the technology and the person's movements. It is essentially utilizing signals that are already present, but in new ways and without the use of additional sensors. Known as the Doppler frequency shift, movement of a hand or foot causes change in frequency of the wireless signal, causing the receiver to detect the associated patterns.

For WiSee to work with a human, the user is to perform a specific movement repeatedly to access the receiver. Then, as soon as WiSee locks onto the user, they are then able to execute gestures that allow them control over their devices and appliances throughout the home. Of course, the receiver would be programmed to recognize specific gestures to control specific devices. Researchers tested this using five people in both a two bedroom apartment as well as an office. Over 900 gestures were performed during the trial, and WiSee accurately classified an amazing 94 percent of them.

The system is equipped with multiple antennas to tune into specific movements made by the user. It is intended for as many as five people to be in the home without confusing the receiver. However, researchers' challenge as of now deal with improving their code in order to handle overlapping signals. They also plan on having WiSee control multiple devices at once. Set apart from previous projects such as SoundWave and Humantenna, which dealt specifically with sound, WiSee is inspiring in it's knowledge of gestures without the user being in the same room. It is a smart home idea come to life. My personal feeling of apprehension ties into the Big Brother concept. Would one be capable of seeing our movements in our own home without us knowing?