What about a lawn-cutting drone?

@MartinTheFirst Martin... the idea is it cuts as it flies above the grass blades. Could it work?

@MarkPaul feels like an accident waiting to happen but yes it could work

@MartinTheFirst It would be controlled by the operator from a console... not robotic to avoid collisions or unintended encounters.

@MarkPaul what if an evil person bought one?

@MartinTheFirst Well, yeah... that would be a problem. But, maybe there could be a disabling mechanism if it came into contact with any type of structure: tree, human, house, etc.

@MarkPaul would it be quick enough? Would the sensor be able to be messed with?

I dont know about you but i wouldnt want my name in the papers saying it killed a dog and a kid

@MartinTheFirst Hmmmm. Yeah. I don't know if it could be quick enough to actually stop the blades from shutting off. It would have to be instant.

@MarkPaul and even so, getting a blade into the face no matter what could be a death sentence

@MartinTheFirst Yeah... I was just thinking it would be easier and more fun than having to manually cut it every week. I guess I didn't think it all the way through.

@MarkPaul i mean you could make one for yourself. Or perhaps make one that does it without blades.

@MartinTheFirst Without blades... Interesting. Like a laser maybe that would shave off a percentage from the tops of the grass? I don't know if that's practical, but I like the idea of it.

@MarkPaul perhaps a trimmer? Kind of like vacuums up the grass into slits

@MartinTheFirst Yes! It's not a full lawn cutter, but provides some in-between trimming capabilities and with suction power it catches all the trimmings.

@MarkPaul
I considered it, and it would be very bad idea, if it's manually operated (safety issues, humans cannot control the safety aspect as well as robots). Wouldn't make much sense either, because it works better to cut the grass to a uniform height, if you do it from the base up, rather than top down.