http://www.me.gatech.edu/mechatronics_lab/Projects/Fall00/group3/contents.htm 

Saw this on slashdot.org where Georgia Techies built a "mechatronic"
guitar.  Lots of photos, flow charts and audio files of it at the above
link.  The fact that slashdot picked this up will probably launch a
hundred more such projects.

Bill Kewin

 [ It's a real 6-string guitar, built by a team of graduate students at
 [ Georgia Tech University.  The description says:
 [
 [  "The guitar player is composed of two mechanical systems that
 [  interact to play a range of 29 musical notes.  A plucking mechanism
 [  with six independently controlled picks is mounted over the body of
 [  the guitar and a fingering mechanism with an array of 23 fingertips
 [  is mounted over the first four frets of the fingerboard."
 [
 [ -- Robbie