Old vcr ir sensor.

An old fashion vcr can be a treasure trove of re-usable spare parts for electronic and robotics. Although they are quickly disappearing, you can still find them in a few thrift stores.

In this case, I rescued the vcr channel ir sensor. Also added extension wires  for use with a breadboard. There is a ton of code out there, but the connections setup is the most vital. There are three basic connections of data, plus, and minus, You will probably have to do a web lookup to get the pinout of the ir sensor.

Then look for the circuit that applies.

http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/PanasonicIrSensor