A TV Remote Becomes a Computer Keyboard

Maker Mirza Makes modified a television remote so its number and control buttons can be used as a computer keyboard. The remote is an input device rather than the computer itself, and it was demonstrated with a Raspberry Pi 5-based handheld PC.

Inside the remote, the membrane keypad is connected to an MCP23017 I/O expander, which sends the button states to the Raspberry Pi over I2C. Rather than appearing as a conventional USB keyboard, the remote's buttons are read directly and turned into computer input.