✋🛸 Hand Gesture-Controlled Drone for Topographic Mapping

This project implements a gesture-controlled drone system capable of performing automated topographic mapping. Using hand landmarks detected via computer vision, the drone is guided through commands like takeoff, land, direction control, yaw, and a custom RTH-triggered photogrammetry mode.

It supports both MSP (MultiWii Serial Protocol) and MAVLink implementations. It also has a module for dronekit implementation, but it doesnt have an app for it, that would come later

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🧠 System Architecture

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📁 Project Structure

gesture-drone-mapper/
├── esp32cam/                  # Firmware (.ino) + control module for ESP32-CAM
├── drone_control/            # Drone control modules (MSP & MAVLink)
├── hand_gesture/             # Gesture detection & GUI apps
├── gesture_commands/         # gesture definitions
├── gifs/                     # Demo GIFs for simulation & real flight
├── docs/                     # Architecture images, docs, future assets

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🚀 Features

• 🔍 Real-time hand gesture recognition using MediaPipe
• 🧭 Full drone control: pitch, roll, yaw, thrust
• 📷 ESP32-CAM image capture module
• 📡 Supports both MSP (via serial or WebSocket) and MAVLink (via UDP)
• 🗺️ Triggered topographic mapping using RTH and START/STOP image capture
• 🎮 Tkinter-based GUI for control & visualization

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🕹️ Apps

1. DroneAppMSP

python hand_gesture/DroneAppMSP_Final.py

2. DroneAppMAVLINK

python hand_gesture/DroneAppMAVLINK_Final.py

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🧰 Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• OpenCV
• MediaPipe
• tkinter
• pyserial (for MSP)
• pymavlink / dronekit (for MAVLink)
• WebSocket-client
• Your ESP32-CAM must be flashed and networked

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🛠️ How to Package as .exe

🔹 Using PyInstaller (terminal method)

pip install pyinstaller
pyinstaller --onefile hand_gesture/DroneAppMAVLINK_Final.py

For GUI mode (no terminal):

pyinstaller --onefile --noconsole hand_gesture/DroneAppMAVLINK_Final.py

🔹 Using auto-py-to-exe (GUI)

pip install auto-py-to-exe
auto-py-to-exe

Select:

• Script: hand_gesture/DroneAppMAVLINK_Final.py
• Onefile + Window Based
• Add any icons or resources as needed

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📜 Acknowledgements

• MSP-over-WiFi bridge adapted from:
  🔗 fpv-wtf/MSPWiFiBridge

• ESP32-CAM firmware inspired by open WebSocket camera modules

• Gesture detection powered by MediaPipe Hands

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🧑‍💻 Maintainer

Yusuf Solomon
🧠 Mechatronics | 🤖 Robotics | 📡 IoT | 🛠️ Embedded Systems
🔗 LinkedIn

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📌 Future Plans

• Add voice control alongside gesture interface
• Port to Android
• Live video streaming from ESP32-CAM into the app

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