Virtual Mouse Using Hand Gestures

Overview

This project implements a virtual mouse using hand gestures via your webcam. It uses MediaPipe for real-time hand tracking and PyAutoGUI to control the mouse, scroll, and click — all with your fingers. Ideal for touchless control or fun automation.

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📌 Features

• Real-time hand tracking using MediaPipe
• Control mouse cursor with your index finger
• Scroll up/down with two fingers or fist gestures
• Perform mouse click with all fingers extended
• Exit using the “Hang Loose” gesture 🤙 (thumb and pinky extended)
• Uses gesture-based UI — no physical mouse required

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🎯 Technologies Used

Library	Purpose
cv2 (OpenCV)	Captures video from webcam & visualizes output
mediapipe	Detects and tracks hand landmarks
pyautogui	Controls the mouse and keyboard
time	Manages delays and debounce functionality

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🤖 Why These Libraries?

• MediaPipe: Lightweight and efficient ML framework by Google for hand/pose tracking.
• PyAutoGUI: Easy-to-use Python library to control mouse and keyboard events.
• OpenCV: For accessing camera feed and overlaying visual cues (like finger landmarks).
• Time: Prevents rapid/unintended repeated actions (debounce logic).

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⚙️ Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/virtual-mouse-gestures.git
cd virtual-mouse-gestures

2. Set up a virtual environment

python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate   # On Windows

3. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

requirements.txt should contain:

opencv-python
mediapipe
pyautogui

4. Run the program

python your_script_name.py

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✋ Gesture Mappings

Gesture	Action
☝️ Index finger up	Move mouse
✌️ Index + middle finger	Scroll up
✊ Fist	Scroll down
🖐️ All fingers extended	Click
🤙 Hang Loose (thumb + pinky)	Exit program

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📌 Notes

• Works best in well-lit environments.

• Webcam resolution and frame rate affect performance.

• Smoothing and debounce can be fine-tuned via constants:

  • SMOOTHING_FACTOR
  • DEBOUNCE_TIME

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🧪 Future Improvements

• Add gesture for right-click or drag.
• Include volume control or media gestures.
• Show on-screen cursor overlay.
• Use Kalman filter or AI-based stabilization for smoother movement.