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Machines will completely rule our lives someday, so why not have them help us with our video games now?

Taiko no Tatsujin, or Taiko Master in English, is an extremely popular game from Japan that combines pop tunes with the classic taiko drum. In the arcade version, you have a pair of bachi (drum sticks that are thicker than Western drum sticks) and alternate between hitting the center and the rim of the drum. In the home console versions, especially for hand-held systems, gamers sacrifice their fingers and thumbs, expertly mashing buttons, in time, to find the right beat.

But why agonize over a perfect score and potentially injure your precious digits when you can just get a machine to play the game for you? Twitter user Kamui (@dorayaki_kamui) decided to “game the game” by using a pull solenoid and a couple of arms, creating possibly the first mechanical taiko master.

Kamui said that his little machine can clear any song as long as the data is input correctly. Many Twitter users complimented him on his ingenious “hack” and wondered how they could get one of these bad boys for themselves to help them play other games such as Fallout 4.

Those of us gamers without a robotics background should not fret though. It is humanly possible to play a difficult level in Taiko Master, it’s just going to take a lot of practice.

Source: Togech
Top image: Twitter/@dorayaki_kamui