Gesture control for digital signage

Gesture control turns digital signage from a screen people watch into a screen people use. AirTouch reads hand gestures through a standard camera mounted near the display and converts them into the mouse and touch input the signage player already understands. Any screen becomes interactive, with no touchscreen retrofit, no proprietary sensor, and no SDK.

Why interactive signage earns its wall space

Passive signage is wallpaper. People walk past it the way they walk past actual wallpaper. Interaction is what stops them: a screen that responds to a raised hand pulls a crowd in a way a looping video never will.

The catch has always been cost. Touch foil retrofits and giant touchscreens are expensive, and touch does not even work for screens mounted high, behind a shop window, or across a lobby. Gesture control removes both problems at once: the display you already own becomes interactive, and it works from a distance.

How does gesture control work on a digital sign?

AirTouch runs on the PC driving the display and uses camera-based hand tracking to follow the viewer's hand. Point to move the cursor, pinch to select, swipe to browse. Gestures become standard mouse and touch events at the operating system level, so your signage content does not change at all.

Because the input is a camera, distance stops being a constraint. A screen mounted above reach, sealed behind a window, or built into a video wall responds the same way a touchscreen would if you could touch it. In busy spaces, patented intent detection is designed to lock onto the person interacting and filter out passersby, so the sign does not react to everyone in the frame.

How can brands run a gesture-controlled game activation on a big screen?

A gesture-controlled game activation needs three things: a large display, a standard camera, and a PC running the game. AirTouch maps hand gestures to the keyboard and mouse controls the game already uses, so an existing game can become the activation without custom development. That is why gesture booths work as trade show magnets: passersby see someone playing with their hands in the air and stop to try it themselves.

The same setup carries over to retail windows, museum exhibits, and lobby installations. See the full picture on our immersive and displays page.

What do you need to install?

In most setups, hardware you already own. Any standard RGB camera works, and AirTouch runs on Windows, Linux, and Android. The practical minimum is a 10th-gen i3 with 8GB of RAM, which most signage players from the last few years clear. Unusual lighting or mounting situations are the exception, and some may call for a specialized camera.

Where to start

Pick one screen, point a camera at the space in front of it, and run the trial. If the content responds to a mouse or a tap, it will respond to gestures. Start a free trial and make one sign interactive this week.

Related: touchless kiosk interfaces, immersive and displays, and gesture control and hand tracking software.