1. A gesture recognition system for remote control of a device, comprising: (a) a sensor for capturing video data of a user's hand at a location near the device; (b) a processor for processing the captured video data of the hand; and (c) programming executable on said processor for carrying out steps comprising: segmenting each hand image in the captured video based on skin color; extracting one or more parameters of the segmented hand image; wherein the one or more parameters comprises a palm center location of the user's hand based on an extracted contour and skeleton of the hand; wherein said palm center location comprises a center of the user's palm during an “open” configuration of the user's hand; said “open” configuration corresponding to a condition wherein all of the user's fingers are extended to expose the user's palm; wherein the one or more parameters further comprises a palm bottom location; measuring the distance between the palm center location and a furthest contour point on the extracted image contour; the furthest contour point being within a predetermined angular range of a vector passing through the palm bottom location and the palm center location; tracking the one or more parameters in the hand image; classifying a hand gesture as “open” or “closed” based on the one or more parameters; and operating the device based on recognition of said hand gesture and tracking the position of said one or more parameters.