( CNN ) -- Quick math question : What has 78 fingers , 22 arms , and no brain ? Answer : `` Z-Machines , '' the robot band with a surprisingly human sound . Listen to this three-piece with your eyes closed and it could be any group of musicians plucking a guitar , twinkling on an electric keyboard , or beating a drum . Sure , there 's a synthesized quality to the music -- which sweeps from orchestral to experimental rock -- but what band does n't get a little help from computers these days ? Open your eyes and you 'll find something very different indeed . For starters , the guitarist is a humanoid looming two-meters-tall , with 78 fingers sweeping across the glowing instrument strapped to its torso . The rocking robot -- called March -- bangs its impressive mane of multi-colored cables in time to the music , albeit a little jerkily . Seated a little behind is Ashura , the drummer with 22 arms extending like a futuristic octopus and playing four times faster than any human ever could . And then there 's Cosmo , perhaps the most alien band member of all , a keyboardist with green lasers hitting each key with pinpoint accuracy . `` The footage of the robot performer is almost like watching a broken human , with a skeleton of steel , and oil for blood , '' said Tom Jenkinson , better known as British recording artist Squarepusher , who composed the music for the mechanical band 's new EP . `` Using robots has this eerie narrative associated with it -- the twilight area between human and machine . It 's just a box of tricks , but it still haunts us because we see it as an impression of ourselves . '' Big in Japan . Created by engineers at the University of Tokyo , the robot band uses around 300 kilowatts of electricity , which designer Kenjiro Matsuo admitted : `` Is a big amount of power . '' `` We just bought a power board which has a switch -- many people can try to make this kind of robot in their house now . '' The machine musicians made their stage debut at a `` Future Party '' in Tokyo last year , performing an electro-rock mash-up for the screaming crowd . Girls in space-age outfits gyrated around guitarist March , whose screen face flashed slogans like `` Party ! '' Each time the audience raised their drinks in the air , the band would play faster , in an event sponsored by the drinks company . Soul music ? Now the machine musicians are set to release a five-track album , with the first single `` Sad Robot Goes Funny , '' a more melancholy tune than you might expect from a band without hearts . `` Can these robots play music that is emotionally engaging ? ' asked Jenkinson , who composed the song and has experimented with electronic music in a career spanning two decades . `` It 's a fascinating question , and one that I 've tried to explore in this project . I 'll let people make up their own minds . '' So how do you create music for a machine with 78 fingers , which can hit a note every eight milliseconds ? `` It 's just another way of making sound , but in this case what 's interesting is the aesthetics of the instrument , '' said Jenkinson . `` Just like when you 're writing music for a human , there are certain possibilities and certain limits . The robot guitarist for example , can play much faster than a human ever could , but there is no amplification control . '' Electronic evolution . If you imagine that this is the start of a robot revolution , never fear , we 've still got a fair way to go before people tire of flesh and blood performers , said Jenkins . `` Is the performance going to be less compelling because it 's robots ? '' he asked . `` For me , part of the appeal has to do with hearing a familiar instrument being 'played ' in an unfamiliar fashion . '' And behind every robot musician , is a human being bringing it to life .
Futuristic robot band created by engineers in Tokyo , Japan . Three - piece : guitarist with 78 fingers , drummer with 22 arms . Music composed by British electronic artist Squarepusher .