Yup, gotta have an emergency stop button. Remember HAL ?

For the IR parts use something like the ones at the bottom right of this page.
http://www.rentron.com/PicBasic/RemoteControl.htm
Same basic IR stuff that is used in TV remotes.

And this page has several IR projects to look at that might get you going with the idea.
http://www.rentron.com/remote.htm

As always, keep us posted.