Assistive IR Remote - Analysis and Reverse Engineering of Current Competitions

There are many remotes designed for people with limited hand functionality.  The most prominent types are "large-button" remotes, which are simply programmable remotes with large buttons.  These still require a reasonable level of dexterity to use, and thus would not be useful for a cerebral palsy patient.  A search for a "one-button" remote also yielded no true results; the only product coming close was a remote with a button and a small switch to change functionality.  The product type most similar to our design is a large, ability switch-based remote, such as the one from BroadendHorizons.com (see figure below). This remote control has five buttons: power, volume up/down, and channel up/down.  Although we are not able to physically take apart the product to examine the circuits, it is fairly straightforward to understand how the product works. It is likely that the product works by transmitting the programmed function via IR when the button is pressed.  The main advantage of this type of design is its simplicity.  It is simply one button = one function, so no coding is required to navigate menus and no display is required to show the device's state.  The disadvantages of this device are its limited functionality, its cost, and its size.  Having five one-function buttons limits the device to five functions.  There is no way to input a channel number or perform any other function on the TV.  In addition, the blocky size would preclude its installation on a wheelchair and makes it more difficult to carry.  It is also $250.  We feel that there is room for significant improvement in all of these areas over this design. 



Although our device is only pre-programmed to work on a SONY television, it can be easily re-programmed to be a universal remote that is adaptable to different brands.  Therefore, we also decided to examine the current universal remotes to understand how they work.  Universal remotes have two main categories - the pre-programmed remotes and the learning remotes. A pre-programmed remote allows the user to set up the remote using a list of options based on the brand of the device. As inferred from the name, the transmission codes of each matching device for all the functions are pre-programmed into the remote control so the user does not have to "teach" the device. Frankly, this type of universal remote is not any more complicated than the IR remote we developed - it just has another layer of menu that chooses the brand of the device and a larger library of codes for each function.  The other type of universal remotes, the learning remotes, allow the user to "teach" the remote upon set up.  Although learning remotes enable the user to control any electronic device, it takes more effort to set up the codes. Instead of having a set of codes pre-programmed into the remote, the learning remote requires the user to transmit codes from the teaching remote to the learning remote button by button so the learning remote can input the transmission code into its library. This process is very similar to how we programmed our remote - we used an IR receiver to obtain the transmission codes from a teaching remote, and input the code into the algorithm correspondingly. 


Overall, we believe that the current market for remote controls does not offer an assistive remote that is programmable, easy to use, and affordable. Therefore, we feel that our product will be beneficial to the target population.