Challege 15 of 52: Electrical Appliance Remote Control

For an interface that we use every day, electrical appliance remote control is an annoying lot. There’s too many button, uncomfortable shape and ambigous label. But then, the most annoying part is the connection between the remote and the appliance itself.

Infrared remote control is a technology is a technology that is older than myself – antic in term of gadget age. The biggest drawback of this connection is that it requires clear line of sight. These days, with cramped living room and odd corners it’s quite a hard reach.

There’s not much problem for TV, but set top boxes are routinely obscured by other furnitures or other trinkets that line the cupboard. It’s even worse for air-conditioner unit which usually end up in a corner that don’t have clear line of sight from the bed or couch.

So, what’s the solution? Bluetooth seems like a good candidate. Phones have generally replaced IR with Bluetooth for the past few years. It’s a shame that remote controls didn’t follow suit. However, pairing procedure can be rather frustrating and the phelotra of bluetooth services in the protocol make it harder still.

Combining Bluetooth with NFC can be a star combination. Just tap the remote with the device and it will seamlessly pair the two. It will be handy when you need to borrow the remote and use it with another device. After all, remote controls do have a bad habit of hiding themselves.