System and method for controlling operation of a ride system based on gestures

A method of controlling operation of an amusement park ride having a ride station area under supervision of one or more ride operators, the method comprising:

• capturing one or more images of one or more of the one or more ride operators at one or more locations within the ride station area;
• recognizing one or more valid gestures within the one or more images, where a valid gesture corresponds to a gesture from at least one of the one or more ride operators;
• and
• processing the one or more valid gestures within the one or more images to enable a ride operation.

A ride control processor comprising:

• a machine-learned module configured to recognize one or more valid gestures within one or more images, where a valid gesture corresponds to a gesture from at least one of one or more ride operators within a ride station area, the machine-learned module comprising:
• a first model trained to identify within images, a gesture corresponding to a gesture within a set of programmed gestures, and
• a second model trained to determine the gesture is made by at least one of the one or more of ride operators;
• and
• program logic configured to process the one or more valid gestures within the one or more images to enable a ride operation.