This musical string-plucking robot can play a physical guitar for you, and more instruments are on the way

Credit: MegCell Published Aug 2, 2026, 4:04 AM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary This robot plucks a real guitar using 28 tuned servos to control fretting, picking, and strumming. Software reads MusicXML and converts it into guitar actions; it can fret, pick, and strum automatically. The end goal is to expand to other instruments and build a robotic band that plays uploaded songs. We've had digitally-created music for a while now, but what if we could get technology to play real instruments for us? Well, that's exactly what one inventive tinkerer wants to achieve. They've created a robot that can pluck the strings on a real guitar, and the end goal is to make a whole band of instruments. This robotic guitar plucker handles the instrument playing for you And more instruments are to come Over in the Arduino and ArduinoProjects subreddits, user MegCell showed off a video of their automatic guitar player. They don't mention how they made it, nor do they link to a project page with all the information, but they were happy to answer questions about it in the comments of both threads. MegCell reveals that the robot uses 28 servos to pluck the guitar strings, and that it was very important to select the right servo and adjust it so it could pluck each string perfectly. The robot can already perform different plucking strengths, and MegCell is working on making the guitar sound more human. However, one of the more surprising revelations in the comment threads is when MegCell discusses how the guitar 'reads' music: "It isn't hard-coded. The software reads MusicXML files and automatically converts them into guitar actions (fretting, picking, and strumming). Yes, it can also strum. I'm still improving the playing techniques and will share more of the fingering mechanism soon." MegCell says they hope to move to other instruments once the guitar is done, eventually leading to a fully-fledged robotic band that can play songs uploaded to it via MusicXML. I'm not going to lie; the idea of a fully automated band that can play whatever song I upload to it does sound amazing, and would definitely make for an excellent talking point for guests.