It’s finally starting to warm up where I live on the 45th parallel, which means it’s just about lawn mowing season. It’s not a chore I typically enjoy, but this RC lawn mower designed and documented by Terry Creer looks like it might be a kick.

Here’s the best feature, from the project website:

THE METHODS OF CONTROLLING AN UNMANNED VEHICLE DETAILED BELOW ARE POTENTIALLY LETHAL. YOU CAN KILL SOMEONE, AN ANIMAL OR A ROSE GARDEN IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL.

Sign me up! That also goes for anything else involving combustion, electronics and spinning blades of lopping frenzy. Here’s a video on YouTube. I’m not sure you’re going to get those nice striped patterns without a lot of practice, but I’m also not sure that it really matters.

If you’re keen on making your own, it’s basically an electric wheelchair with the joystick control replaced with the receiver circuitry and the lawn mover hardware bolted to the frame. The site has all the circuit and mechanical details. You should be able to scrounge for parts and put one together for $450 or so – less if you don’t count the mower you’ve already got that you’d rather be driving from the porch.

DIY Radio Controlled Lawn Mower