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Robert AdlerInventor of the TV remote control
Date of Birth: 04.12.1913
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Robert Adler
Robert Adler, the inventor of the first wireless remote control, currently owns three remote controls in his home at the age of 90. Just like millions of other consumers, he constantly gets confused when using these devices. The invention that once brought comfort to people now brings inconvenience. Adler uses the remotes to control his television, VCR, and DVD player. He struggles with them, but admits that very few designers making remotes understand that people don't know how these remotes work by heart. The Consumer Electronics Association has estimated that the average American household currently has about four remote controls, or even more. This is because every manufacturer feels obligated to include a remote with 30-50 buttons with their device - a fact that can be understood. However, all of this clutters up coffee tables, piles up behind the couch, and one can no longer differentiate which remote is used for what and which functions each remote has, especially since the number of functions continues to increase every day.
Early Life and Career
Robert Adler was born in 1913 in Vienna. He obtained his doctorate in physical sciences in Vienna at the age of 24 and soon after, emigrated to the United States. He found work in the research division of Zenith Radio Corporation (now Zenith Electronics Corporation). During World War II, Adler specialized in military communication equipment, including high-frequency generators and electromechanical filters for aircraft.
After the war, Adler focused on televisions, working with colleagues to improve signal reception and eliminate various types of interference. And it's fair to say that he succeeded. It was around that time that Adler's own corporation decided to equip televisions with remotes - they had already been making some form of remote control for the military. And thus, in the 1950s, the first remote control, unofficially called the "Lazy Bones", was born.
With this first remote, users could turn the television on and off and change channels. However, there was a small inconvenience: the remote was connected to the television with a fairly thick cable, which proved to be unsafe for some clumsy Zenith customers. In 1955, the cord was eliminated. The corporation, following the idea of Adler's colleague Eugene Polley, produced the "Flashmatic" - a wireless remote that was actually a light beam pointer.
The beam had to hit photodetectors located on either side of the screen. Unfortunately, the photodetectors not only responded to the user, but also reacted to sunlight. It's clear the chaos this caused.
Robert Adler thought again and decided that television commands should be transmitted not by light, but by sound, specifically, ultrasonic sound that the human ear could not detect.
The new remote was very simple and didn't even need batteries. Pressing a button would strike one of four lightweight aluminum rods of different lengths - just like hammers striking piano strings.
The television's receiver would interpret these high-frequency sounds as signals to "scroll" channels up and down, turn sound on and off, and control power.
The remote was named the "Zenith Space Command" and went on sale in June 1956. This is considered the date of the first full-fledged remote control. The initial 30% increase in prices for Zenith televisions (due to the vacuum tubes required by the receiver) initially puzzled the public, but the novelty could not be underestimated - the "lazy bones" prevailed.
In the 1960s, after the invention of the transistor, Adler modified the "Zenith Space Command" so that ultrasonic signals were produced electronically and added battery power.
By the early 1980s, when infrared technology was born, Zenith and other companies had already sold over 9 million televisions with Adler's remote control system.
Robert Adler worked as a technical advisor to the corporation until 1997. He collected numerous awards and prizes throughout his career and is now retired. He currently resides in a suburb of Chicago surrounded by three remote controls, cursing his followers.
The Problem at Hand
Returning to the problem we started with, some might argue that there is no problem at all since there are universal remotes. Yes, there are, and we have talked about some of them, but not everything goes smoothly with these remotes, as it turns out.
First of all, true universal remotes are only those with prices starting at $50. Those that are cheaper are very selective in terms of compatibility with various devices, so they cannot fully replace the "original" remotes that come with the devices without the need for an additional purchase.
At the same time, universal remotes priced at $100 or higher handle the task quite well: they can "learn" and adapt to different systems, and they also have so-called "macro buttons" - the ability to perform a series of tasks with a single click.
For example, by pressing a "macro button," a user can turn on the TV, switch it to video mode, and activate the DVD player. In this way, a process that usually requires the involvement of three remotes can be initiated with a single button press on one remote.
A remote that costs $200 can take care of programming these "macro buttons." They are labeled "Watch TV" or "Listen to Music." You press it, and all the components turn on automatically. By the way, remotes called Harmony Remote are priced at $200.
For $500, you can purchase the Home Theater Master MX-800 remote, which can control up to 20 devices. The Navitus remote from Sony, priced at $700, can command 18 components and has a color LCD screen that responds to your finger taps.
The iPronto from Philips seems to be the unique frontrunner in the field of remote controls. Priced at $1,700, it can also connect wirelessly to the Internet to display news or email.
However, Robert Adler says that using such remotes requires a pilot's license.
