It’s possible to say it’s possible that home automation using WiFi is the future in the near future or maybe even the present technological state however, at the end of the day, it’s impossible to match IR control for specific tasks. It’s simple and affordable, especially should you wish to include the remote control to an appliance or TV that works, IR is often still the most popular choice. If you’re looking to connect IR devices into an advanced home automation the Tindie vendor Automate Things has a great-looking solution called The IR Bridge v1.4.
The device comes with a Wemos D1 miniboard that allows to provide ESP8266 wifi control which makes it compatible with ESPHome along with Tasmota. This means it is able to easily be integrated with other automation software such as Home Assistant, giving you the full control of IR gadgets (and the potential to automate) via WiFi.
It also has 38kHz IR receiver that allows it to transmit IR signal from one location to another via WiFi. You could also imagine this feature being utilized to control devices not connected to IR using a standard IR remote.
