Air-Controller with Wio Terminal, DFRobot GestureFace Sensor

Touchless interaction is transforming how we engage with devices—from smart homes and kiosks to contact-free workplace controls. In this tutorial, we'll build a gesture-controlled dashboard using the Wio Terminal and the DFRobot Gesture & Face Detection Sensor (SEN0626). This system can detect up to 10 faces, recognize five intuitive hand gestures, and display detection data on a vibrant GUI. It's fully offline, making it a perfect fit for privacy-sensitive applications.

🛠️ What You’ll Build

A slick GUI interface that:

• 🧠 Detects and displays real-time face location and confidence score
• ✋ Tracks gesture type and score
• 🖥️ Renders a visual dashboard on the Wio Terminal’s screen
• 🔒 Operates fully offline—no cloud needed

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🎒 Hardware Components

📘 About Wio Terminal

The Wio Terminal is a full-featured embedded development board designed for rapid prototyping and IoT.

🔧 Key Specs:

• ATSAMD51 Cortex-M4F MCU (120–200MHz)
• Realtek RTL8720DN Wi-Fi + BLE
• 2.4" TFT LCD (320×240)
• Grove connectors for sensor integration
• Built-in microphone, accelerometer, buzzer, light sensor, infrared emitter
• USB OTG, microSD slot
• Full support for Arduino, CircuitPython, ArduPy

🎯 Spotlight: Gravity Offline Edge AI Gesture & Face Detection Sensor

The Gravity: Offline Edge AI Gesture & Face Detection Sensor (SEN0626) by DFRobot is a compact vision module designed for real-time gesture recognition and multi-person detection—without relying on cloud connectivity

🌟 Key Features

• 🎮 Gesture Recognition: Detects 5 predefined gestures including thumbs-up, OK sign, open palm, peace sign, and hang loose (SIX) within a 0.5–3m range
• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Face & Presence Detection: Recognizes up to 10 faces or upper-body presences simultaneously with position and confidence score
• 🔒 Fully Offline Processing: All AI inference runs onboard, preserving privacy and reducing latency
• 🎛️ Interface Options: Communicates via I2C (default 0x72) or UART (RS485, Modbus protocol)
• 🔌 Voltage Support: Operates between 3.3V and 5V, making it compatible with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP32, and graphical platforms like MakeCode

🧪 Sensor Specs

💡 Why It Stands Out

Unlike traditional vision sensors or cloud AI APIs, the SEN0626 handles all computations locally with zero data transmission. This makes it perfect for environments like public kiosks, hospital automation, classroom counters, or smart bathrooms where privacy and simplicity are critical.

You can install it in ceilings, desks, or embedded enclosures, and it consistently outputs gesture ID, score, and face coordinates for real-time UI feedback.

🔗 Source

Explore technical docs, examples, and buy the sensor on the DFRobot product page

🧰 Hardware Setup

Connect the Gesture & Face Sensor to Wio Terminal via I2C using a Grove cable:

• SDA → SDA
• SCL → SCL
• VCC → 3.3V
• GND → GND

🧠 Sensor Overview

The DFRobot Gesture & Face Detection Sensor features:

• Recognition of 5 gestures:
• 👍 LIKE (Blue)
• 👌 OK (Green)
• ✋ STOP (Red)
• ✌️ YES (Yellow)
• 🤙 SIX (Purple)
• Up to 10 faces simultaneously
• Field of View: 85°
• Range: 0.5m – 3m
• Privacy: Full offline inference

💻 Code Overview

Here’s what the code does

• Initializes sensor via I2C
• Updates face/gesture status on screen
• Displays bounding boxes with labeled info

🖥️ Key Libraries

#include "DFRobot_GestureFaceDetection.h"
#include <TFT_eSPI.h>

💾 Setup Block

DFRobot_GestureFaceDetection_I2C gfd(0x72); // I2C Address
TFT_eSPI tft;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Wire.begin();
  tft.begin();
  tft.setRotation(3);
  tft.fillScreen(TFT_BLACK);
  gfd.begin();
}

🔄 Loop Block

void loop() {
  if (gfd.getFaceNumber() > 0) {
    int faceX = gfd.getFaceLocationX();
    int faceY = gfd.getFaceLocationY();
    int score = gfd.getFaceScore();

    int gesture = gfd.getGestureType();
    int gScore = gfd.getGestureScore();
    
    // Display values using drawString() and drawRect()
  } else {
    // No face detected: show idle state
  }
  delay(500);
}

📌 You can customize the layout and colors using drawRect, drawString, and setTextColor() from TFT_eSPI.

🖼️ Final GUI Snapshot

+---------------------------------------------------+
|       Face & Gesture Tracker                      |
|---------------------------------------------------|
| Sensor Ready                                      |
|                                                   |
| 🟨 Face Detection Box                             |
|   → X:124 Y:88 Score:91                           |
|                                                   |
| 🟦 Gesture Detection Box                          |
|   → ID:2 Score:95 Gesture: OK                     |
+---------------------------------------------------+

📦 Libraries & Downloads

DFRobot Gesture/Face Sensor Arduino Library

• DFRobot Gesture/Face Sensor Arduino Library
• Wio Terminal Wiki + Setup Guide
• Gesture Sensor Product Page

🧠 Final Thoughts

This project combines edge AI sensing with embedded GUI design to produce a real-time, privacy-safe control interface. Whether you're building a smart kiosk or experimenting with ambient UX, Wio Terminal and the SEN0626 sensor offer a perfect starting point.