We already know that musically inclined robots will take up the Beatles mantle in the future, and that they are skilled at reproducing the classic James Bond theme. But just to further show how obsolete human musicians are, Vladimir Demin (MrDeminva on YouTube) built a robotic guitar that can replace a group of guitarists.

Normally it takes a group of musicians to play this particular Russian tune. Demin’s actuated player guitar can reproduce the song by itself with such unrelenting tempo and perfect accuracy.

The robotic guitar can do this because each fret on the instrument has its own dedicated solenoids to magnetically strum the individual strings. The guitar-strumming mechanism is equipped with six picks (one for each string) that allows it to play note after note at an incredibly inhuman speed.

Watching this guitar play is an incredible sight, but there’s still something soulless-sounding about it -- you know, besides the obvious point that a human is not playing it.

If you compare its rendition of “Go Down Moses” to Siggi Mertens’, it sounds incredibly hollow. This might have to do something with the fact that the entire guitar is strapped down, which prevents the sound box from vibrating properly, or it might just be the way it does not hold a note for more than a few milliseconds.