1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to brainstud a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brain Stuff 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbam here. Remote controls are one of the most 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,799 Speaker 1: ubiquitous symbols of our modern technologies. Even if you're the 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: sort of minimalist who's consolidated your entertainment system's controls to 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:24,280 Speaker 1: a single remote or a set of smartphone apps, you 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: might have another dozen or so around your home. We 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,279 Speaker 1: control everything from ceiling fans and air conditioners, to car 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: door locks and garage or gate openers, to laundry machines 9 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: and lamps via remote. And this isn't a scientific fact, 10 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: but I think chances are decent that we all have 11 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: one or two remotes permanently lost amid an army of 12 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: dust bunnies in our couches. The most ubiquitous use of 13 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: remotes may be for television control, but these devices far 14 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: pre date TV. They're an invention born of the late 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds. Renowned Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla created one 16 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: of the world's first wireless remote controls, which he unveiled 17 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,639 Speaker 1: at Madison Square Garden in New York City in nineteen 18 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: eighty nine. He called his Fledgling System, which could be 19 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: used to control a range of mechanical contraptions a tele automaton. 20 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: Before his demonstration, Tesla employed a miniature boat controlled by 21 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: radio waves. The boat had a small metal antenna that 22 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: could receive exactly one radio frequency. Tesla sent signals to 23 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: the boat using a box equipped with a lever and 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,759 Speaker 1: a telegraph key, originally designed to send Morse code signals. 25 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: The signals generated from this box shifted electrical contacts aboard 26 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: the boat, which in turn adjusted settings for the rudder 27 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: and propeller, allowing the operator to control the boat's motion. Financially, 28 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: Tesla's remote controlled boats were a flop. His intented client, 29 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: the US Navy, thought the technology was too flimsy for war, 30 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: but the concept of remote control caught on shortly after 31 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: Tesla's breakthroughs. Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Cavedo used wireless telegraph 32 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: transmitters to control first a tricycle, then an engine powered boat, 33 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: and even submarine torpedoes. The work of these inventors was 34 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: a harbinger of things to come. In World War One, 35 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: the German Navy used remotely controlled boats loaded with explosives 36 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: to attack opposition ships. It was the advent of a 37 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: new type of warfare in which armed forces could direct 38 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: armaments from a distance. During World War II, the German 39 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: and American armed militaries also experimented with and deployed a 40 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: range of guided missiles and torpedoes. Beginning in the nineteen thirties, 41 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: a few consumer electronics incorporated remote controls that operated by 42 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: transmitting radio frequency signals like garage door openers, model airplanes, 43 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: and home radios. The first remote controls for radios were wired, 44 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: but in nineteen thirty nine phil Co at the Philadelphia 45 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: Storage Battery Company, offered some of its high end radios 46 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: with a wireless, battery powered remote, which it called the 47 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 1: Mystery Control. This remote had a spring loaded dial like 48 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 1: old fashioned telephones do, with ten stops along the dial, 49 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: corresponding to eight preset radio stations, and then volume up 50 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 1: and volume down. You'd turn the dial to the stop 51 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: you wanted, save the station that played lots of Ella Fitzgerald, 52 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: and let it go. As the dial rotated back to 53 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: its starting position, Each stop would generate a radio frequency 54 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: pulse that was then received by a device in the 55 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: radio cabinet. Based on the number of pulses it received, 56 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: it would know which station to tune to. These remotes 57 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: made a big splash when they debuted, but there are 58 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: a few issues with radio frequency remote technology that prevented 59 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: it from becoming the main choice for home entertainment systems. 60 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: There are a lot of radio signals flying through the 61 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: air at any given time. These remotes were programmed to 62 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: transmit and receive specific frequencies, but there were also a 63 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: growing number of these remotes. Since radio waves can travel 64 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: through walls and for a decent range, interference grew more 65 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: likely the more people adopted these devices. That may be 66 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: why television manufacturers didn't rush to incorporate them when TVs 67 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: became commercially available after World War Two. Before remotes, TV 68 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,360 Speaker 1: viewers had to plod to their televisions to change the 69 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: channel and volume, using rotating dials or buttons. I being 70 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: an old remember sets like this at my grandparents' houses. 71 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty, electronics manufacturer's Zeni introduced the Lazybones remote. 72 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: It was the old wired type with a long, snaking 73 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: cable that turned as many ankles as it did channels. 74 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: A few years later, Zenith engineers devised the flash Maatic 75 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: TV remote, which looked like a small pistol and used 76 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: directional flashes of light to control a television settings, but 77 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: the TV's four photo cells, one in each corner of 78 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: the screen, responded to all sorts of light sources, including 79 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:27,600 Speaker 1: sunlight and ceiling lights, causing spontaneous channel changes. In nineteen 80 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: fifty six, Zenith created the Space Command control, which employed 81 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 1: high frequency ultrasonic sound instead of light. This new remote 82 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: didn't even require batteries. Instead, it contained tiny hammers to 83 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: strike one of four aluminum rods, creating different sounds to 84 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: be picked up by the TV's receiver. One rod each 85 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: controlled the on and off power functions and the channel 86 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: up and down functions. There was no volume control. This 87 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: style of remote increased the price of a new TV 88 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: by a third, but that didn't stop people from buying 89 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: them in mass quantities. These remotes became known as clickers 90 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 1: due to the audible click the hammers made when they 91 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: hit the rods. Their ultrasonic frequencies were inaudible to humans, 92 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: but they drove a lot of dogs a little bonkers. 93 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,840 Speaker 1: The drawback to these devices was that they could be persnickety, 94 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: especially if you weren't holding still when you used them. 95 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 1: That's because of the Doppler effect, which describes how motion 96 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: can change the pitch of sound waves. Remote controls changed 97 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: the way we interacted with our electronic devices, planting us 98 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: like proverbial potatoes and couches with no risk of outside 99 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: distraction or of getting a few steps in by making 100 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: us get up to change a radio station or TV channel. 101 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,560 Speaker 1: It was a time when channel choices were expanding, and 102 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: because viewers tended to click away during commercials or slow scenes, 103 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: TV programs changed as well, with faster pacing to keep 104 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: people continuously engaged, and remotes themselves kept evolving. Ultrasonic remotes 105 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: remain to these standard for televisions and stereos until nineteen eighty, 106 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: which is when remotes began using the infrared light signals 107 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: that are most common today. Infrared light is a part 108 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can't see, but that 109 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: we experience as heat, in this case, very mild heat. 110 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: Infrared remotes work by using that part of the spectrum 111 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: to transmit signals to a receiver in the electronic device 112 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: in question. The little red light that blinks on the 113 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: remote when you push a button is just so that 114 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: you know it's working. The transmitter in the remote sends 115 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: pulses of infrared light that represent specific binary codes, you know, 116 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: a string of ones and zeros. These binary codes correspond 117 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: to commands and such as power on or volume up. 118 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: The receiver in the device decodes the ul of light 119 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: into their representative binary data. A microprocessor in the device 120 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: can understand this data and carry out the corresponding command. 121 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: Infrared remotes work well enough and are cheap enough to 122 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: make that they've stuck around, but they do have some 123 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: limitations based on the fact that they use light signals. 124 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: They therefore have a range of only about thirty feet 125 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: or ten meters, and they require line of sight, which 126 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: is why you sometimes have trouble with a remote if 127 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:34,120 Speaker 1: an entertainment system's receiver isn't in the most obvious place, 128 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: say it's far to one side instead of right near 129 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: the TV screen. Pretty quickly, by the mid nineteen eighties, 130 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 1: infrared remotes became so common for so many different home 131 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:50,679 Speaker 1: entertainment devices that electronics companies started producing universal remotes that 132 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: could work with or be programmed specifically for controlling many 133 00:08:54,840 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: different devices. Think not just televisions and stereos, so cable boxes, 134 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: VCRs or betamax maybe a separate CD player if your 135 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: old stereo didn't come with one, then LaserDisc, satellite television, DVRs, DVDs, 136 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: blu ray, and now streaming service boxes. Remote overload is real, 137 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:22,839 Speaker 1: and radio frequency remotes never died out, They just specialized. 138 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: These days, radio frequency remotes are used for things that 139 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: benefit from their greater range up to one hundred feet 140 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: or thirty meters, like garage door openers, carfobs, and ceiling fans. 141 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: Modern radio frequency remotes transmit radio waves that correspond to 142 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: the binary command for the button you're pushing. A radio 143 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: receiver on the controlled device receives a signal and decodes it. 144 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,680 Speaker 1: Of course, way more devices are transmitting radio signals these days, 145 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 1: cell phones, Wi Fi setups, and Bluetooth devices like wireless 146 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: speakers and headphones. Today's radio frequency remotes address the interference 147 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: issue by transmitting at specific radio frequencies and by embedding 148 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: digital address codes in the radio signal. This lets the 149 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: radio receiver on the intended device know when to respond 150 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:18,160 Speaker 1: to the signal and when to ignore it. Perhaps the 151 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: most universal remote today is a smartphone. With the right 152 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: app and coordinating hardware, you can use your phone to 153 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,240 Speaker 1: unlock a car door, turn household lights on and off 154 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: while you're on vacation, and of course, change channels and 155 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: a lot more on your television, all of which is 156 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 1: extremely useful. But radio technology has very grand applications as well. 157 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: For example, NASA has relied on radio frequency remote control 158 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 1: systems to send commands to its MARS rovers, including some 159 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:55,199 Speaker 1: complex compensation for the Doppler effect. As we continue to 160 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: weave new technologies into our lives, it's likely that we'll 161 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: still need remotes in whatever format to help keep things 162 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: under control. Today's episode is based on the articles what 163 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: is the History of the Remote Control written by Nathan 164 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: Chandler and How Remote Controls Work? Written by Julia Layton 165 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 1: on HowStuffWorks dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio 166 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 1: in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by 167 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 168 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 169 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:29,840 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.