Engineers in China moved an entire building using 'robot legs'

Moving a building from one location to another is uncommon because it's so difficult, typically requiring the structure to be split into pieces and reassembled at its new location. But engineers in China found a way to help a building "walk" to its new location because of course they did.

China is nxt lvl — In order to make way for a new commercial district in Shanghai, a historical school building had to be moved. But because of its unconventional shape, engineers decided that methods like moving the building on flatbeds wouldn't be feasible. Instead, using nearly 200 hydraulic robotic legs, it was able to walk to its new resting place over the course of 18 days.

Considering the journey was only 200 feet, it took a long time to traverse that short distance. Still, it's an entire building, and an old one at that, so we're impressed. We can only imagine the day when we're saying, "I swear it was right there" — because it was, it's just that the building walked itself somewhere else.

Bring your own building — Various startups have entered the space of modular construction, changing the way we think of buildings as structures that remain in one place permanently. One company, Blokable, creates smart home units in a warehouse that can be stacked into multi-story projects once they're trucked to a project site.

The idea is supposed to bring down construction costs tremendously by avoiding unpredictable on-site conditions, like bad weather. And residents around the site don't have to deal with frustrating construction noise.