Arduino Based Remote Control Bug

Television has established itself as one of the most common household electrical appliance. From being a luxury to a necessity for the modern living, this invention of Mr. J.L. Baird has earned itself a well-deserved place in households. Even to the curious minds, television has attracted a lot of attraction and we have seen inventions like computers, VCR, DVD players and gaming consoles which patch up to it. For many others, bugging the television watchers through various pranks also been a popular trend. It is noteworthy that Apple co-founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak designed a pocket bug device which would disturb the transmission and annoy the one watching the TV. They were indeed a genius and every experiment of theirs has had a great story.

Picking out the TV bug in this blog, we explore DIY one new species of annoying. This time we are not going to distort the TV signal, but will produce a mysterious bugging noise whenever the remote is pressed. What’s more? Well, this prank is can be carried out on any appliance that uses a remote control.

What you need here is an Arduino board, a battery, a small buzzer, an IR receiver and a case to cover the assembly. This is a very simple DIY and using an Arduino makes it even better. While the science behind it may require some understanding, the assembling and usage is lucid and it doesn’t harm any of the gadgets.

To make it work, all you have to do is stealthily hid it, somewhere near the appliance. Now, whenever someone presses any button on the remote, the device would grab it, making the buzzer would produce a sound. While the maker obviously knows about it, the innocent ones would be confused or annoyed or both. Make sure you don’t get caught or you might have to buy a new Arduino along with some bandage.