Abstract: A system for the control from a distance of machines having displays incls hand gesture detection in which the hand gesture causes movement of an on-screen hand icon over an on-screen machine control icon, with the hand icon moving the machine control icon in accordance with sensed hand movements to effectuate machine control. In one embodiment, TV control led by hand signals includes detecting a single hand gesture and providing a hand icon on the screen along with the provision of icons representing TV controls such as volume, channel, color, density, etc., in which a television camera detects the hand in a noisy background through correlation techniques based on values of local image orientation. In order to trigger the system into operation, a trigger gesture such as the "how" sign is distinguished from the background through the utilization of orientation angle differences.