Renowned Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla created one of the world's first wireless remote controls, which he unveiled at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1898. He called his fledgling system, which could be used to control a range of mechanical contraptions, a "teleautomaton." For his demonstration, Tesla employed a miniature boat controlled by radio waves. The boat had a small metal antenna that could receive exactly one radio frequency.
Tesla sent signals to the boat using a box -- his version of a remote control -- equipped with a lever and a telegraph key (originally designed to send Morse code signals). The signals generated from this box shifted electrical contacts aboard the boat, which, in turn, adjusted settings for the rudder and propeller, allowing the operator to control the boat's motion.
Shortly after Tesla's breakthroughs, Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres-Quevedo used wireless telegraph transmitters to control first a tricycle, then an engine-powered boat, and even submarine torpedoes.
The work of these inventors was a harbinger of things to come. In World War I, the German navy used remotely controlled boats loaded with explosives to attack opposition ships. It was the advent of a new type of warfare, in which armed forces could direct armaments from a distance. During World War II, the German and American armed militaries also experimented and deployed a range of guided missiles and torpedoes.
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