Methods for recognizing gestures using adaptive multi-sensor gesture recognition are described. In some embodiments, a gesture recognition system receives a plurality of sensor inputs from a plurality of sensor devices and a plurality of confidence thresholds associated with the plurality of sensor inputs. A confidence threshold specifies a minimum confidence value for which it is deemed that a particular gesture has occurred. Upon detection of a compensating event, such as excessive motion involving one of the plurality of sensor devices, the gesture recognition system may modify the plurality of confidence thresholds based on the compensating event. Subsequently, the gesture recognition system generates a multi-sensor confidence value based on whether at least a subset of the plurality of confidence thresholds has been satisfied. The gesture recognition system may also modify the plurality of confidence thresholds based on the plugging and unplugging of sensor inputs from the gesture recognition system.