Quote :

"Man, 81, kills himself with shot from 'suicide robot' An elderly man has killed himself by programming a robot to shoot him in the head after building the machine from plans downloaded from the internet. Francis Tovey, 81, who lived alone in Burleigh Heads on the Australian Gold Coast, was found dead in his driveway. According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, he had been unhappy about the demands of relatives living elsewhere in Australia that he should move out of his home and into care. Notes left by Mr Tovey — who was born in England — revealed that he had scoured the internet for plans before constructing his complex machine, which involved a jigsaw power tool and was connected to a .22 semi-automatic pistol loaded with four bullets. It could fire multiple shots once triggered remotely. Related Links * Ama Sumani, cancer victim deported to Ghana, dies * Briefing: suicide and the law * Grief eased for euthanasia families At 7am on Tuesday he set the robot up in the driveway of his £450,000 house and activated it. His notes suggested that Mr Tovey chose to kill himself in the driveway because he knew there were workmen building a new house next door who would find his body. The scheme worked, as carpenter Daniel Skewes heard gunshots and ran to Mr Tovey's home. "I thought I heard three shots and when we ran next door he was lying on the driveway with gunshot wounds to the head," Mr Skewes told the GCB. A neighbour, who did not want to be named, told the newspaper that Mr Tovey had lived at his home on Gabrielle Grove since 1984. "He was a really marvellous man, an ideal neighbour and I will miss him greatly," she said. "He was born in England, like I was, and we used to enjoy our tea together. He had visitors from England and family interstate from somewhere far away in Australia. "There was no inkling of anything amiss, it is just very sad." "

3/20/2008 8:00:25 PM

Damn... Dude is a genius! errr... WAS a genius

3/20/2008 8:01:48 PM

His family sucks, this guy was clearly awesome

3/20/2008 8:02:07 PM

he wanted to go out on his own terms

3/20/2008 8:02:40 PM

Man, I honestly think if he gave it a few more months something natural would've happened instead.

81 years old and he offs himself because his family thinks he's too old to live alone. That's going to be a HELL of a burden left on his family for the rest of their lives.

3/20/2008 8:04:40 PM

so was this like peter griffin's breakfast machine?

3/20/2008 8:04:44 PM

He should have made it some sort of public spectacle that would have ruined at least a few childhoods.

3/20/2008 8:13:07 PM

walk into a restaurant

GOD DAMN, WHO FARTED?!

*BOOM, HEADSHOT*

3/20/2008 8:14:13 PM

Hey man... Nice shot

3/20/2008 8:15:01 PM

he just didn't want to be a burden and didn't want to depend on other people to take care of him

3/20/2008 8:18:51 PM

Good for him, I plan on blowing my brains out once I feel like i've gotten old.

3/20/2008 8:20:29 PM

He could have staged so that it looked like he was John Connor and the futurebots were coming for him.

3/20/2008 8:23:52 PM

3/20/2008 8:25:16 PM

old man wants to kill himself, that's fine.

but why do you need a machine to do it?

3/20/2008 8:30:42 PM

Rube Goldberg-esque would've been cooler.

3/20/2008 8:32:42 PM

1) couldn't pull the trigger himself?

2) to go out in a way that'd merit a thread on http://www.thewolfweb.com

3/20/2008 8:33:11 PM

If you think about it, he proved he's at least capable enough to make a suicide machine. If he's able to do that I'd say he was able to take care of himself just fine before he decided to off himself.

3/20/2008 8:33:19 PM

perhaps the machine built itself....



[Edited on March 20, 2008 at 8:41 PM. Reason : wait!!!! did he patent the device before he died?]

3/20/2008 8:38:23 PM

precursor to Futurama suicide booth

3/20/2008 8:40:18 PM

Someone find these plans. I want to see them.

3/20/2008 9:12:46 PM