Robert Adler

The Zenith Space Command remote, 1956 Robert Adler's design is why people still call a remote a clicker. Earlier Zenith remotes were tethered by a cable or worked by a beam of light that sunlight could trigger by mistake. The Space Command needed no batteries: pressing a button struck an aluminum rod, and the set picked up the ultrasonic tone. Nothing else changed the posture of watching so much, from walking to the set to steering it from the couch. It was costly at first, adding about 30% to a set's price, yet some 9 million ultrasonic-remote sets sold before infrared took over in the 1980s.