January 23, 2026 • 11 mins
Today, we use remote controls for everything from televisions to car doors to Mars rovers. Learn about the history and technologies behind them (including radio-frequency, ultrasonic, and infrared remotes) in this episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/repurposed-inventions/history-of-remote-control.htm; https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/remote-control.htm
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brainstud a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brain Stuff
Lauren vogelbam here. Remote controls are one of the most
ubiquitous symbols of our modern technologies. Even if you're the
sort of minimalist who's consolidated your entertainment system's controls to
a single remote or a set of smartphone apps, you
(00:24):
might have another dozen or so around your home. We
control everything from ceiling fans and air conditioners, to car
door locks and garage or gate openers, to laundry machines
and lamps via remote. And this isn't a scientific fact,
but I think chances are decent that we all have
one or two remotes permanently lost amid an army of
(00:46):
dust bunnies in our couches. The most ubiquitous use of
remotes may be for television control, but these devices far
pre date TV. They're an invention born of the late
eighteen hundreds. Renowned Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla created one
of the world's first wireless remote controls, which he unveiled
(01:06):
at Madison Square Garden in New York City in nineteen
eighty nine. He called his Fledgling System, which could be
used to control a range of mechanical contraptions a tele automaton.
Before his demonstration, Tesla employed a miniature boat controlled by
radio waves. The boat had a small metal antenna that
could receive exactly one radio frequency. Tesla sent signals to
(01:32):
the boat using a box equipped with a lever and
a telegraph key, originally designed to send Morse code signals.
The signals generated from this box shifted electrical contacts aboard
the boat, which in turn adjusted settings for the rudder
and propeller, allowing the operator to control the boat's motion. Financially,
(01:53):
Tesla's remote controlled boats were a flop. His intented client,
the US Navy, thought the technology was too flimsy for war,
but the concept of remote control caught on shortly after
Tesla's breakthroughs. Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Cavedo used wireless telegraph
transmitters to control first a tricycle, then an engine powered boat,
(02:16):
and even submarine torpedoes. The work of these inventors was
a harbinger of things to come. In World War One,
the German Navy used remotely controlled boats loaded with explosives
to attack opposition ships. It was the advent of a
new type of warfare in which armed forces could direct
armaments from a distance. During World War II, the German
(02:39):
and American armed militaries also experimented with and deployed a
range of guided missiles and torpedoes. Beginning in the nineteen thirties,
a few consumer electronics incorporated remote controls that operated by
transmitting radio frequency signals like garage door openers, model airplanes,
and home radios. The first remote controls for radios were wired,
(03:03):
but in nineteen thirty nine phil Co at the Philadelphia
Storage Battery Company, offered some of its high end radios
with a wireless, battery powered remote, which it called the
Mystery Control. This remote had a spring loaded dial like
old fashioned telephones do, with ten stops along the dial,
corresponding to eight preset radio stations, and then volume up
(03:27):
and volume down. You'd turn the dial to the stop
you wanted, save the station that played lots of Ella Fitzgerald,
and let it go. As the dial rotated back to
its starting position, Each stop would generate a radio frequency
pulse that was then received by a device in the
radio cabinet. Based on the number of pulses it received,
(03:49):
it would know which station to tune to. These remotes
made a big splash when they debuted, but there are
a few issues with radio frequency remote technology that prevented
it from becoming the main choice for home entertainment systems.
There are a lot of radio signals flying through the
air at any given time. These remotes were programmed to
(04:11):
transmit and receive specific frequencies, but there were also a
growing number of these remotes. Since radio waves can travel
through walls and for a decent range, interference grew more
likely the more people adopted these devices. That may be
why television manufacturers didn't rush to incorporate them when TVs
(04:32):
became commercially available after World War Two. Before remotes, TV
viewers had to plod to their televisions to change the
channel and volume, using rotating dials or buttons. I being
an old remember sets like this at my grandparents' houses.
In nineteen fifty, electronics manufacturer's Zeni introduced the Lazybones remote.
(04:55):
It was the old wired type with a long, snaking
cable that turned as many ankles as it did channels.
A few years later, Zenith engineers devised the flash Maatic
TV remote, which looked like a small pistol and used
directional flashes of light to control a television settings, but
the TV's four photo cells, one in each corner of
(05:18):
the screen, responded to all sorts of light sources, including
sunlight and ceiling lights, causing spontaneous channel changes. In nineteen
fifty six, Zenith created the Space Command control, which employed
high frequency ultrasonic sound instead of light. This new remote
didn't even require batteries. Instead, it contained tiny hammers to
(05:42):
strike one of four aluminum rods, creating different sounds to
be picked up by the TV's receiver. One rod each
controlled the on and off power functions and the channel
up and down functions. There was no volume control. This
style of remote increased the price of a new TV
by a third, but that didn't stop people from buying
(06:04):
them in mass quantities. These remotes became known as clickers
due to the audible click the hammers made when they
hit the rods. Their ultrasonic frequencies were inaudible to humans,
but they drove a lot of dogs a little bonkers.
The drawback to these devices was that they could be persnickety,
especially if you weren't holding still when you used them.
(06:28):
That's because of the Doppler effect, which describes how motion
can change the pitch of sound waves. Remote controls changed
the way we interacted with our electronic devices, planting us
like proverbial potatoes and couches with no risk of outside
distraction or of getting a few steps in by making
us get up to change a radio station or TV channel.
(06:51):
It was a time when channel choices were expanding, and
because viewers tended to click away during commercials or slow scenes,
TV programs changed as well, with faster pacing to keep
people continuously engaged, and remotes themselves kept evolving. Ultrasonic remotes
remain to these standard for televisions and stereos until nineteen eighty,
(07:14):
which is when remotes began using the infrared light signals
that are most common today. Infrared light is a part
of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can't see, but that
we experience as heat, in this case, very mild heat.
Infrared remotes work by using that part of the spectrum
to transmit signals to a receiver in the electronic device
(07:35):
in question. The little red light that blinks on the
remote when you push a button is just so that
you know it's working. The transmitter in the remote sends
pulses of infrared light that represent specific binary codes, you know,
a string of ones and zeros. These binary codes correspond
to commands and such as power on or volume up.
(07:57):
The receiver in the device decodes the ul of light
into their representative binary data. A microprocessor in the device
can understand this data and carry out the corresponding command.
Infrared remotes work well enough and are cheap enough to
make that they've stuck around, but they do have some
limitations based on the fact that they use light signals.
(08:21):
They therefore have a range of only about thirty feet
or ten meters, and they require line of sight, which
is why you sometimes have trouble with a remote if
an entertainment system's receiver isn't in the most obvious place,
say it's far to one side instead of right near
the TV screen. Pretty quickly, by the mid nineteen eighties,
(08:42):
infrared remotes became so common for so many different home
entertainment devices that electronics companies started producing universal remotes that
could work with or be programmed specifically for controlling many
different devices. Think not just televisions and stereos, so cable boxes,
VCRs or betamax maybe a separate CD player if your
(09:05):
old stereo didn't come with one, then LaserDisc, satellite television, DVRs, DVDs,
blu ray, and now streaming service boxes. Remote overload is real,
and radio frequency remotes never died out, They just specialized.
These days, radio frequency remotes are used for things that
(09:27):
benefit from their greater range up to one hundred feet
or thirty meters, like garage door openers, carfobs, and ceiling fans.
Modern radio frequency remotes transmit radio waves that correspond to
the binary command for the button you're pushing. A radio
receiver on the controlled device receives a signal and decodes it.
(09:48):
Of course, way more devices are transmitting radio signals these days,
cell phones, Wi Fi setups, and Bluetooth devices like wireless
speakers and headphones. Today's radio frequency remotes address the interference
issue by transmitting at specific radio frequencies and by embedding
digital address codes in the radio signal. This lets the
(10:10):
radio receiver on the intended device know when to respond
to the signal and when to ignore it. Perhaps the
most universal remote today is a smartphone. With the right
app and coordinating hardware, you can use your phone to
unlock a car door, turn household lights on and off
while you're on vacation, and of course, change channels and
(10:31):
a lot more on your television, all of which is
extremely useful. But radio technology has very grand applications as well.
For example, NASA has relied on radio frequency remote control
systems to send commands to its MARS rovers, including some
complex compensation for the Doppler effect. As we continue to
(10:55):
weave new technologies into our lives, it's likely that we'll
still need remotes in whatever format to help keep things
under control. Today's episode is based on the articles what
is the History of the Remote Control written by Nathan
Chandler and How Remote Controls Work? Written by Julia Layton
(11:16):
on HowStuffWorks dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio
in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by
Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Welcome to brainstud a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brain Stuff
Lauren vogelbam here. Remote controls are one of the most
ubiquitous symbols of our modern technologies. Even if you're the
sort of minimalist who's consolidated your entertainment system's controls to
a single remote or a set of smartphone apps, you
(00:24):
might have another dozen or so around your home. We
control everything from ceiling fans and air conditioners, to car
door locks and garage or gate openers, to laundry machines
and lamps via remote. And this isn't a scientific fact,
but I think chances are decent that we all have
one or two remotes permanently lost amid an army of
(00:46):
dust bunnies in our couches. The most ubiquitous use of
remotes may be for television control, but these devices far
pre date TV. They're an invention born of the late
eighteen hundreds. Renowned Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla created one
of the world's first wireless remote controls, which he unveiled
(01:06):
at Madison Square Garden in New York City in nineteen
eighty nine. He called his Fledgling System, which could be
used to control a range of mechanical contraptions a tele automaton.
Before his demonstration, Tesla employed a miniature boat controlled by
radio waves. The boat had a small metal antenna that
could receive exactly one radio frequency. Tesla sent signals to
(01:32):
the boat using a box equipped with a lever and
a telegraph key, originally designed to send Morse code signals.
The signals generated from this box shifted electrical contacts aboard
the boat, which in turn adjusted settings for the rudder
and propeller, allowing the operator to control the boat's motion. Financially,
(01:53):
Tesla's remote controlled boats were a flop. His intented client,
the US Navy, thought the technology was too flimsy for war,
but the concept of remote control caught on shortly after
Tesla's breakthroughs. Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Cavedo used wireless telegraph
transmitters to control first a tricycle, then an engine powered boat,
(02:16):
and even submarine torpedoes. The work of these inventors was
a harbinger of things to come. In World War One,
the German Navy used remotely controlled boats loaded with explosives
to attack opposition ships. It was the advent of a
new type of warfare in which armed forces could direct
armaments from a distance. During World War II, the German
(02:39):
and American armed militaries also experimented with and deployed a
range of guided missiles and torpedoes. Beginning in the nineteen thirties,
a few consumer electronics incorporated remote controls that operated by
transmitting radio frequency signals like garage door openers, model airplanes,
and home radios. The first remote controls for radios were wired,
(03:03):
but in nineteen thirty nine phil Co at the Philadelphia
Storage Battery Company, offered some of its high end radios
with a wireless, battery powered remote, which it called the
Mystery Control. This remote had a spring loaded dial like
old fashioned telephones do, with ten stops along the dial,
corresponding to eight preset radio stations, and then volume up
(03:27):
and volume down. You'd turn the dial to the stop
you wanted, save the station that played lots of Ella Fitzgerald,
and let it go. As the dial rotated back to
its starting position, Each stop would generate a radio frequency
pulse that was then received by a device in the
radio cabinet. Based on the number of pulses it received,
(03:49):
it would know which station to tune to. These remotes
made a big splash when they debuted, but there are
a few issues with radio frequency remote technology that prevented
it from becoming the main choice for home entertainment systems.
There are a lot of radio signals flying through the
air at any given time. These remotes were programmed to
(04:11):
transmit and receive specific frequencies, but there were also a
growing number of these remotes. Since radio waves can travel
through walls and for a decent range, interference grew more
likely the more people adopted these devices. That may be
why television manufacturers didn't rush to incorporate them when TVs
(04:32):
became commercially available after World War Two. Before remotes, TV
viewers had to plod to their televisions to change the
channel and volume, using rotating dials or buttons. I being
an old remember sets like this at my grandparents' houses.
In nineteen fifty, electronics manufacturer's Zeni introduced the Lazybones remote.
(04:55):
It was the old wired type with a long, snaking
cable that turned as many ankles as it did channels.
A few years later, Zenith engineers devised the flash Maatic
TV remote, which looked like a small pistol and used
directional flashes of light to control a television settings, but
the TV's four photo cells, one in each corner of
(05:18):
the screen, responded to all sorts of light sources, including
sunlight and ceiling lights, causing spontaneous channel changes. In nineteen
fifty six, Zenith created the Space Command control, which employed
high frequency ultrasonic sound instead of light. This new remote
didn't even require batteries. Instead, it contained tiny hammers to
(05:42):
strike one of four aluminum rods, creating different sounds to
be picked up by the TV's receiver. One rod each
controlled the on and off power functions and the channel
up and down functions. There was no volume control. This
style of remote increased the price of a new TV
by a third, but that didn't stop people from buying
(06:04):
them in mass quantities. These remotes became known as clickers
due to the audible click the hammers made when they
hit the rods. Their ultrasonic frequencies were inaudible to humans,
but they drove a lot of dogs a little bonkers.
The drawback to these devices was that they could be persnickety,
especially if you weren't holding still when you used them.
(06:28):
That's because of the Doppler effect, which describes how motion
can change the pitch of sound waves. Remote controls changed
the way we interacted with our electronic devices, planting us
like proverbial potatoes and couches with no risk of outside
distraction or of getting a few steps in by making
us get up to change a radio station or TV channel.
(06:51):
It was a time when channel choices were expanding, and
because viewers tended to click away during commercials or slow scenes,
TV programs changed as well, with faster pacing to keep
people continuously engaged, and remotes themselves kept evolving. Ultrasonic remotes
remain to these standard for televisions and stereos until nineteen eighty,
(07:14):
which is when remotes began using the infrared light signals
that are most common today. Infrared light is a part
of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can't see, but that
we experience as heat, in this case, very mild heat.
Infrared remotes work by using that part of the spectrum
to transmit signals to a receiver in the electronic device
(07:35):
in question. The little red light that blinks on the
remote when you push a button is just so that
you know it's working. The transmitter in the remote sends
pulses of infrared light that represent specific binary codes, you know,
a string of ones and zeros. These binary codes correspond
to commands and such as power on or volume up.
(07:57):
The receiver in the device decodes the ul of light
into their representative binary data. A microprocessor in the device
can understand this data and carry out the corresponding command.
Infrared remotes work well enough and are cheap enough to
make that they've stuck around, but they do have some
limitations based on the fact that they use light signals.
(08:21):
They therefore have a range of only about thirty feet
or ten meters, and they require line of sight, which
is why you sometimes have trouble with a remote if
an entertainment system's receiver isn't in the most obvious place,
say it's far to one side instead of right near
the TV screen. Pretty quickly, by the mid nineteen eighties,
(08:42):
infrared remotes became so common for so many different home
entertainment devices that electronics companies started producing universal remotes that
could work with or be programmed specifically for controlling many
different devices. Think not just televisions and stereos, so cable boxes,
VCRs or betamax maybe a separate CD player if your
(09:05):
old stereo didn't come with one, then LaserDisc, satellite television, DVRs, DVDs,
blu ray, and now streaming service boxes. Remote overload is real,
and radio frequency remotes never died out, They just specialized.
These days, radio frequency remotes are used for things that
(09:27):
benefit from their greater range up to one hundred feet
or thirty meters, like garage door openers, carfobs, and ceiling fans.
Modern radio frequency remotes transmit radio waves that correspond to
the binary command for the button you're pushing. A radio
receiver on the controlled device receives a signal and decodes it.
(09:48):
Of course, way more devices are transmitting radio signals these days,
cell phones, Wi Fi setups, and Bluetooth devices like wireless
speakers and headphones. Today's radio frequency remotes address the interference
issue by transmitting at specific radio frequencies and by embedding
digital address codes in the radio signal. This lets the
(10:10):
radio receiver on the intended device know when to respond
to the signal and when to ignore it. Perhaps the
most universal remote today is a smartphone. With the right
app and coordinating hardware, you can use your phone to
unlock a car door, turn household lights on and off
while you're on vacation, and of course, change channels and
(10:31):
a lot more on your television, all of which is
extremely useful. But radio technology has very grand applications as well.
For example, NASA has relied on radio frequency remote control
systems to send commands to its MARS rovers, including some
complex compensation for the Doppler effect. As we continue to
(10:55):
weave new technologies into our lives, it's likely that we'll
still need remotes in whatever format to help keep things
under control. Today's episode is based on the articles what
is the History of the Remote Control written by Nathan
Chandler and How Remote Controls Work? Written by Julia Layton
(11:16):
on HowStuffWorks dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio
in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by
Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
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Host
Lauren Vogelbaum
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