As technology advances, hand gesture-based controllers can be developed and implemented as more natural alternatives for radio controllers with joysticks to remotely control vehicle. Leap Motion Controller, a small device which can track the movements of hands and fingers in three dimensions, is one of such controllers that allows easy implementation for direct gestural control without hand-held or wearable devices. Potentially this is a natural way to control vehicles models and robots.
Two experiments in two kinds of spatial exploration tasks were conducted to assess both user experience and performance in controlling a vehicle remotely using either a radio controller or Leap Motion Controller, in conjunction with either looking at laptop screen or wearing FPV goggles. The first experiment was a maze exploration task where users were instructed to find pictures of bombs scattered throughout the maze, whereas the second experiment was free exploration task where users were asked to find 5 pieces of cards with face values scattered on a plain area unrestrictedly without walls. During the experiments their performance such as performance time duration and number of items found were recorded. After finishing the experiments, the users feedback regarding fatigue, satisfaction, and other aspects were reported through subjective questionnaires. Users were also interviewed at the end of experiment sessions to collect their additional verbal feedback in detail about their overall experience (feelings) when using different operation modes for the tasks.
Based on the results from the first and the second experiment, longer time was required for users to complete the tasks using the Leap Motion Controller. However, there was no sufficient evidence statistically to suggest that the controller used had significantly affected either number of steps and step deviation in the first experiment, or the spatial deviation, number of items found and average spatial deviation in the second experiment. Despite the fact that participants favored the radio controller over Leap Motion Controller in subjective responses, they felt that the Leap Motion Controller is more fun to use comparing to radio controller. Hence, there is a potential for the Leap Motion Controller to be a feasible alternative to radio controller if the Leap Motion Controller is used for leisure activities (enjoyment purposes) or other tasks in which time completion is not critical.

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