Another more practical application for this is turning any IR remote (or at least any learning IR remote) into a button controller for SmartThings.
You can purchase extra special batteries for the RF IR extender posted above, so any remote you add a battery to will send to the RF receiver, allowing multiple remotes to control things from anywhere in the house.
This will also allow controlling “scenes” from standard remotes, and if the remote does macros, you could have one button to turn on the TV and adjust the lights.
(So far I’ve got the Arduino Uno and IR receiver and have gotten the Adruino code ready to go. I’m waiting on the Thing Shield from SmartThings. It appears others have gotten this to work, so I’m expecting Ir remote control part to function.
Once that is up and running, I’ll add the RF IR extender. The wand will be the last (and frivolous) part of the puzzle.)