Remote controls are an everyday device that many of us take for granted. However for people who lack dexterity in their fingers, the use of a remote control can be frustrating and even impossible. Our group aims to create a system which allows the control of various infrared controlled devices through a computer. The flexibility of the computer means that our system can accept various input devices which can be customised. This allows the user to choose their own method of controlling the computer. To send the control signals, an infrared receiver/transmitter unit will also be connected to the computer.

Another feature of our system will be the ability to ‘learn’ remote control commands by capturing and storing the appropriate infrared signals. This makes it an ‘intelligent’ system which is compatible with most household electronic brands. There will be specific software for control of the system, and this should have features such as customizable sequences of codes under one button (hotkeys), keeping buttons spaced far from one another and large in size to reduce the precision needed in controlling the cursor.

Possible extensions and improvements to this project would be the use of a wireless receiver/transmitter module using Bluetooth technology, voice recognition software to act as a control input and the increase in the range of products which can be controlled by this system, such as speaker phones and lighting systems.

Siddharth Jayaram Nair, Dr Lachlan Andrew, Chee-Wei Ng, Daniel Ng