Pilot,
Your question is a very good one. A door that can trap or injure your chickens doesn't make much sense.
Take a look at the door we make:
www.chickendoors.com .
We've designed a number of features into it exactly with this purpose in mind. First, our door closes like a regular house door. The big advantage there is that it won't bind and get stuck open. So it has a very different look and also has different issues to address.
Let me list out the features to prevent trapping or injuring a chicken:
1. The door is torque-limited. This means that the door won't hurt the bird due to the pressure from the motor.
2. The edges of the door have a plastic edging to prevent cutting the bird with a sharp edge. The door itself is also slightly flexible to reduce injuries.
3. In the evening when the door closes, there is a one minute delay and the door opens again for ten seconds. If a bird has been stuck in the door, this will allow it to get out of the door. We're patenting several features of the door including this one.
4. The door closes fairly slowly as well. It takes about 5 seconds.
I can't speak for what other door manufacturers do but this was our approach.
In terms of a remote control door, I've been asked to build one that works with a TV remote, and even building an iphone app! No, I haven't done these as yet. I can just see how someone would use it. Put the La-z-Boy chair by the window. When a hen walks up to the coop to go in, hit the remote & close the door as she gets there. The confused hen starts walking away, and they'd open the door. Hen turns to go in and the door closes again. It would be more entertaining than most television nowadays! But don't let the hen local union find out about it...
Tony
