A programmable data processing circuit is configured for receiving sensor signals indicative of gestures for identification by the processing circuit. The processing circuit applies to the sensor signals finite state machine processing resources to provide identification output signals indicative of gestures identified as a function of the sensor signals. A plurality of finite state machine processing programs loaded into the processing circuit include a data section and an instruction section. The data section including a fixed size part specifying respective processing resources used by the programs in the plurality of finite state machine processing programs and a variable size part with respective sizes for allocating the respective processing resources used by the programs in the plurality of finite state machine processing programs. The instruction section including conditions and commands for execution by the respective processing resources used by the programs by operating on data located in the respective data sections.

In a method for controlling at least one function of a household appliance, a control device senses contactlessly the presence of a user's hand in a sensing space. A characteristic of the sensed hand is detected by the control device, and a function of the household appliance is actuated using the detected characteristic.

A method and a device for operating a robot are provided. According to an example of the method, information of a first gesture is acquired from a group of gestures of an operator, each gesture from the group of gestures corresponding to an operation instruction from a group of operation instructions. A first operation instruction from the group of operation instructions is obtained based on the acquired information of the first gesture, the first operation corresponding to the first gesture. The first operation instruction is executed.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for initiating actions based on sequences of events. In one aspect, a process includes receiving, from each of multiple devices, data specifying an event detected by the device. The events are compared to configured scenarios that each specify a sequence of trigger events and an action to be initiated in response to detecting the sequence of trigger events. A determination is made that the events match a first scenario of the scenarios. In response to determining that the events detected by the multiple devices match the first scenario, a first action specified by the first scenario is initiated. A determination is made that a combination of one or more of the events detected by the multiple devices and the first action matches a second scenario. In response, a second action specified by the second scenario is initiated.

A method and system of controlling an appliance includes: receiving, from a first home appliance, a request to start video image processing for detecting a motion gesture of a user; processing a sequence of image frames captured by a camera corresponding to the first home appliance to identify a first motion gesture; selecting a second home appliance as a target home appliance for the first motion gesture in accordance with one or more target selection criteria, including first target selection criteria based on a location of the user relative to the first home appliance and second target selection criteria based on a level of match between the first motion gesture and a first control gesture corresponding to the second home appliance; and generating a control command to control the second home appliance in accordance with the first control gesture corresponding to the second home appliance.

A touchless food dispenser. The touchless food dispenser includes one or more packets of food stored therein. The touchless food dispenser also includes one or more apertures. The touchless food dispenser is configured to dispense the food through the one or more apertures.

A touchless food dispenser. The touchless food dispenser includes one or more types of food stored therein, one or more removable nozzles, and one or more nozzle replacement mechanisms. The touchless food dispenser is configured to dispense the food through the one or more removable nozzles. The one or more nozzle replacement mechanisms are configured to remove the one or more removable nozzles and replaces the one or more removable nozzles with a different removable nozzle.

A touchless food dispenser. The touchless food dispenser includes one or more types of food stored therein, one or more removable nozzles, and one or more nozzle replacement mechanisms. The touchless food dispenser is configured to dispense the food through the one or more removable nozzles. The one or more nozzle replacement mechanisms are configured to remove the one or more removable nozzles and replaces the one or more removable nozzles with a different removable nozzle.

A touchless food dispenser. The touchless food dispenser includes one or more packets of food stored therein. The touchless food dispenser also includes one or more apertures. The touchless food dispenser is configured to dispense the food through the one or more apertures.

Methods, systems, and apparatus for receiving a command for controlling a robot, the command referencing an object, receiving sensor data for a portion of an environment of the robot, identifying, from the sensor data, a gesture of a human that indicates a spatial region located outside of the portion of the environment described by the sensor data, accessing map data indicating locations of objects within a space, searching the map data for the object, wherein the search of the map data is restricted to the spatial region, determining, based at least on searching the map data for the object referenced in the command, that the object referenced in the command is present in the spatial region, and in response to determining that the object referenced in the command is present in the spatial region, controlling the robot to perform an action with respect to the object referenced in the command.