The invention extends to methods, systems, and computer programs for generating and using gesture recognition training data. A first aspect includes programming a humanoid robot 400 to perform gestures, capturing data from sensors 501 monitoring the robot, generating gesture training data from the sensor data, and thus training a gesture recognition system. The gesture could be a hand or arm movement 403A used at a roadway 541 to request a vehicle 502 to slow. The sensors could include cameras 501, 503, and accelerometers that monitor the robot’s limbs directly – see Fig. 4. The advantage of using a robot rather than a human is that the robot can be placed in many operating situations, in different lighting conditions, wearing different clothing etc.. In some embodiments the recorded data is used by a simulator to generate further training data. The trained recognition system could find use in autonomous vehicles which could then recognize a diverse set of human gestures in varying conditions
Validating gesture recognition capabilities of automated systems