The Ultimate Universal Remote Control

TheMayor writes: "CNN.com has a story about how researchers at Maya Designs, Inc. and Carnegie-Mellon are trying to come up with a remote control that controls everything in your house. From the TV to the blender, these guys want to make an all-in-one piece to turn everything on and off. Now I wonder if I could remotely flush my toliet?"

Comments

that's wrong.

[7-Vodka]

If you have to remotely flush your toilet, odds are you're doing something wrong.

Re:A better question:

[Pig Hogger]

If you're having it built, have low-voltage relays installed throughout the house. The whole procedure is extremely well-documented in the "Time-Life Home Handyman" series of books, more precisely the "Advanced Wiring" book.

The idea is to have a 12 volts 2 coil latching-relay on each lighting circuit. Since they are latching relays (one coil to turn it on, and the other to turn it off), they can be controlled by as many momentary SPDT switches as needed; you can also have as many "master consoles" as you need which consist of two rotary dials, one to turn on and the other to turn off the light.

Some relays even offer a low-voltage "indicator" line, so the master console can have pilot lights to indicate which lights are on.

I am surprised that this system is not more widespread in fancy homes, as I remember going to a school more than 30 years ago that had it's lighting controlled by that system.

What's neat about it is that the big expensive high-votage wire (which has to be installed by a qualified electrician) only goes from the breaker panel to the light fixtures, instead of snaking through the walls to the light switches (and don't get me stated on the 3 or 4 way switches!!!). As the control is done through low-voltage, light switches can be extremely small and unobtrusive.

Of course, it goes without saying that interfacing those to a computer would be an outright breeze...

Super-Remote Control Defined.

[mcrbids]

The biggest pain in the ass with "universal" remotes is that you have to spend at least a whole afternoon programming the !@# thing. Very !@# convenient...

So, what if you had a setup where you could call the company, their support staff'd ask for your model numbers, and they'd program it remotely!

Oh, and can you imagine, on this remote control, a big, back-lit display so that you could see what !@# button to push to turn the !@#!@ thing down?

So, what you have is a device that:
1) Can communicate with the parent company,
2) Has alot of buttons,
3) A small CPU in it,
4) A large backlit screen.

Sounds an awful lot like a cell phone, eh?

No, really! Just put an I/R LED at the end of your cell phone, it'd make an EXCELLENT UNIVERSAL REMOTE.

Re:Super-Remote Control Defined.

[joshki]

:) Thats funny -- just last night my niece (18 months old) picked up my cell phone (nokia 6360 with IR port on the top) and pointed it at the TV... :) I got a good laugh out of it -- but it really is a good idea.

Re:Why not make current Universal Remotes work fir

[cscx]

I have an IQ of 156
[...]
This is why I only view DVDs on my computer, faaar easier, don't have to switch around audio and video inputs until hell freezes over, then select the proper audio decompression scheme, then select the proper surround sound scheme, and THEN sit down and 'enjoy' the movie, and then have the honor of switching all that shit BACK to watch regular TV.

Here is my question: Since you're so smart, why is it such a difficult task for you to use a console DVD player? I mean, it's not that hard really. 5 to 10 seconds tops, insert DVD, push play, that's it. I simply can't see how you would prefer sitting hunched over your computer to watch a DVD than using a TV.