What was the first remote control

This allows for an unlimited distance and range of control, compared to the past designs that required presence in the same room. Although the remote control was once considered a great luxury item, they currently reside in almost every household in the nation. As for their future, their expansion will continue into smart phones, cars, and houses in order to assist in the control of various technological appliances.

Toggle navigation. Remote Controls Although the most common remote control of the day is associated with the television, the invention of the first remote control was created for a completely different device.

He would have been able to do more research and even apply remote control technology to projectile weapons like torpedoes, but he never received the funding.

In , the first ever TV control was invented. As it was rather cumbersome, the Zenith Company came up with a different approach: a wireless remote that used beams of light and photoelectric cells to operate. We take for granted that people once had to get up to change the channel.

Yet the remote control is nearly as old as the television itself. Those who could afford it have been flipping channels from their seats since The first wireless remote control was invented in Chicago by Eugene Polley for Zenith and introduced in The gizmo, dubbed the Flash-Matic, looked like a ray gun from the future. Since then, the handheld devices have used everything from light, sound and radio waves to command our television sets. Before we get to wireless, let's go back to the beginning.

Zenith made no, er, bones about it by naming its first remote "Lazy Bones. One of the earliest remotes was invented to shut off sound during commercial breaks. Ironically, the "Blab-Off" was dreamt up by an advertising executive. According to a blog post by the inventor's daughter, the creator made up the alias "Bob Grant" to secretly market his product.

Here we get to the first wireless remote, which utilized light. In essence, it was a flashlight of sorts, hence the name, that triggered the set via four panels around the screen. Just one problem — light bulbs and sunlight could also trigger the television.

It used ultrasound to change TV channels and sound level. More Recent Advances A more complex remote control was developed in , and it could do minimal tasks such as turning a TV on and off and changing channels. Controllers that could perform more functions were produced in the late s, and they used infrared communication to perform their tasks.

Around , a cable TV converter with infrared control was manufactured by a Canadian company called Viewstar. It became popular in a short time and was sold all over the world.

Remote controls that use Freespace motion were produced in by Hillcrest Labs, and they allow users to control television sets by gestures.

These devices have four buttons and a scroll wheel, like that of a mouse. These new controls use radio waves instead of infrared to send signals to a TV antenna connected to a USB slot within a television set. Remote controls have been essential to operate electronics like TV sets or sound systems. These advances in technology have made it possible for remotes to keep pace with ever-changing electronics.