Remote Controls

A remote control is an electronic device used for the remote operation of a machine. more...

The term, sometimes abbreviated to “the remote” and also called "bufter", is most commonly used to refer to a remote control for televisions or other consumer electronics such as stereo systems and DVD players, and to turn on and off a mains plug. Remote controls for these devices are usually small handheld objects with an array of buttons for adjusting various settings such as television channel, track number, and volume. In fact, for the majority of modern devices with this kind of control, the remote contains all the function controls while the controlled device itself only has a handful of essential primary controls. Most of these remotes communicate to their respective devices via infrared (IR) signals and a few via radio signals. They are usually powered by small AAA or AAAA size batteries.

History

One of the earliest examples of remote control was developed in 1893 by Nikola Tesla, and described in his patent, U.S. Patent 613809, named Method of and Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vehicle or Vehicles. The first remote-controlled model airplane flew in 1932. The use of remote control technology for military purposes was worked intensively during the Second World War, one result of this was the German Wasserfall missile. The first remote intended to control a television was developed by Zenith Radio Corporation in the early 1950s. The remote — unofficially called “Lazy Bones” — used a wire to connect to the television set. To improve the cumbersome setup, a wireless remote control was created in 1955. The remote called “Flashmatic” worked by shining a beam of light onto a photoelectric cell. Unfortunately, the cells did not distinguish between light from the remote and light from other sources. The Flashmatic also required that the remote control be pointed accurately at the receiver...

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