1. An optical gesture recognition system, the system comprising: a first light source; a first optical receiver configured to receive reflected light from an object when the first light source is activated and output a first measured reflectance value corresponding to an amplitude of the reflected light; and a processor configured to receive the first measured reflectance value, where the processor is further configured to compare the first measured reflectance value at first and second points in time to track motion of the object and identify a gesture of the object corresponding to the tracked motion of the object.