I am building my first robot and it requires that i know the lead on the IR emitter so i can connect them to the lead of the LED but I don't have a diode check feature on my multimeter. And the lengths of the "wire" don't vary as a LED would. How do I find the lead of and IR emitter?
Does the bezel have a small flat on one side? If yes, that is likely (not always) the cathode side. Don't you have a data sheet on the part? How do you know the forward voltage and current?
If you can see through the LED plastic, you'll notice one of the terminals is bigger than the other - the big one is the cathode (which also corresponds to flat on the side of the LED)
If there is no indicator such a flat spot the use a battery with a resistor to test both connection combinations. While trying both combinations look at the emitter through a digital camera, you will be able to see the light.
I can never remember which way around LEDs go, so I included a sketch on my TAP-28 cheat sheet. Look at the 2nd page for a picture showing what to look for.