A method for hand pose identification in an automated system includes providing depth map data of a hand of a user to a first neural network trained to classify features corresponding to a joint angle of a wrist in the hand to generate a first plurality of activation features and performing a first search in a predetermined plurality of activation features stored in a database in the memory to identify a first plurality of hand pose parameters for the wrist associated with predetermined activation features in the database that are nearest neighbors to the first plurality of activation features. The method further includes generating a hand pose model corresponding to the hand of the user based on the first plurality of hand pose parameters and performing an operation in the automated system in response to input from the user based on the hand pose model.