NEW ALBANY, MS (abc24.com) - Talk about cutting edge. Think about mowing your lawn without ever leaving your living room, or trimming the grass from the shade of your front porch.
It can be done. A New Albany, Mississippi inventor has a solution for everyone who hates cutting the grass.
John Wright has been toying with this idea for about 30 years. It looks like a small tank, but he's created a heavy duty lawn mower that works just like a remote control car.
"I get a lot of, 'is that a remote control lawn mower?'" Wright says. "My immediate reply is, 'no it's a solar powered toaster.' I've just always been into hands-on type deals."
His latest creation is all about being hands off.
Wright's remote controlled lawn mower is designed to mow anywhere with the touch of button.
"Places where you simply cannot mow," he says. "It makes it real great for hills and getting you away from the machine makes it great for safety."
Wright designed it to be virtually indestructible, able to handle steep hills and rough terrain or just the grass in your back yard.
"You plug a camera into the top and you can sit on your couch and look into the screen like you're playing a video game, but you're cutting grass," he says.
Each mower takes about three weeks to make from the frame to the hand held controller.
"There's 426 parts to each mower," Wright tells abc24.com. "Steps, parts, nuts and bolts, everything."
He builds them from the ground up in his garage in New Albany, Mississippi, but they don't stay there for long.
The two he's just finished making are on the way to Illinois and Australia.
He gets the word out through the internet.
"It's about the only thing I know to do. Go to Google and ask it 'How do I sell...," he says.
His mowers cost anywhere from $2,000 to $7,500. At that price, Wright recognizes the invention is not for everyone, but he's developed a niche market.
"You get elderly and handicapped people I've sold residential units to, and the guy that has everything and wants something else."
Wright's sold 30 mowers so far, mainly for industrial use. Half of his sales have come from buyers overseas, but he hasn't sold one in his home state.
