Robots and humans move a huge old building, then put it back (1 Viewer)

[fatness]

This is impressive (to me). A 100-year-old brick building covering almost exactly 1 acre was moved, intact, to make way for construction of a shopping center, subway connections, and a parking lot underneath it. Then the entire building was moved back, intact, and re-set on its original foundation.

To make it work, engineers used 3D scanning, self-guided drilling robots, thousands of feet of conveyor belts to haul away dirt and debris, and AI that could distinguish between soil structures. The kicker was the 432 tiny hydraulic "walking" robots that suspended the entire city block above them as they clocked a scampering pace of about three ten-thousandths of a mile per hour – or about 33 feet (10 meters) per day. There's a fun timelapse video on the Shanghai government website.

There are some cool videos with it, time-lapsed of course.

China temporarily relocates an entire city block, buildings and all

How do you relocate an entire 8,270-ton, 43,380-sq-ft (4,030 sq m), 100-year-old Shikumen brick building complex so you can build a multi-level subterranean shopping center, parking lot and subway connections under it? With robots, of course.

newatlas.com

 

[dgreen]

How would like to be that guy who was working underneath the building as it was being moved?

 

[El Floppo]

It's all I can do to move my suitcase from a recent trip... Returned Monday night... From the front door where I left it, back to my bedroom.

Where are these robots when you really need them?

 

[PlayaHata]

As an Indy resident, the article reminded me of this.

In November 1930, in Indiana, United States, one of the great feats of modern engineering was executed: a team of architects and engineers moved an 11,000-ton (22-million pound) telephone exchange without ever suspending its operations or basic supplies for the 600 employees who worked inside.

(edited to add that I now see this move is actually mentioned in the article OP posted)

 

[fatness]

How would like to be that guy who was working underneath the building as it was being moved?

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