Some people think bassists are dispensable. Some bands, like the Black Keys for instance, don’t even have a bassist! Victoria University of Wellington engineering student, James McVay (no relation), may have put a lot of bassists out of work, thanks to his bachelor’s degree project, the MechBass, a four-string robotic bass guitar.

Built with laser-cut 3D-printed parts, the MechBass is composed of four separate units to control each string. With spinning picks plucking the strings at up to 50 notes a second and wool felt (obviously, he’s from New Zealand) to dampen them, this tech-guitar can play notes fed to it via MIDI.

Check out the MechBass playing Hysteria by Muse and take a glimpse into the future of robotic bands.

[Source : No Treble, YouTube]