I also don't think it's a hoax. Here is what I can see from the picture:
- IR Receiver
- 5 LEDs (CMD3, CMD2, CMD1, CMD0, ERROR)
- a Microchip Processor (PIC16LF87)
- Ribbon cable goes to J1
My best guess is that this is a field element. The robots will send an IR signal to this device, and the field element will act accordingly. There are 4 commands. I think the button will clear any errors that come up (reset button).