frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

Open in hackernews

Robots move Shanghai city block [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZccC9BnT8k
69•surprisetalk•1d ago

Comments

selimnairb•5h ago
This title is misleading. It makes it seem like the robots did this autonomously, when in reality hundreds if workers were involved. The “robots” were “smart jacks” I would say. Humans couldn’t have done this without hydraulic jacks, they used fancy hydraulic jacks.
jayde2767•4h ago
It is still a very impressive feat of engineering.
selimnairb•1h ago
Oh, absolutely.
ddtaylor•4h ago
I was not really lead to believe they did this autonomously. It seemed to me like either (a) they were doing the lockstep in a pre-programmed way that required timing of the equipment working together or (b) the same but with humans operating the timing. In either case I find the use of robots impressive.
mixdup•1h ago
Calling these robots is like calling a wrench a robot
bmmayer1•5h ago
This is incredible -- serious question -- has anything of this scale been done in the US or Europe? Do we even have the technology?
mmsc•5h ago
Yes, it has been common enough, no "robots" required. The Indiana Bell Building is a famous one from a century ago, which gets videos posted about it on social media ever so often.
janfoeh•5h ago
Here is the Kaisersaal in Berlin being moved on air cushions in 1996 [1]. And wasn't a better part of Chicago jacked up building by building some time in the 19th century to make room for a sewage system?

[1] https://www.bz-berlin.de/archiv-artikel/hier-schwebt-ein-den...

crooked-v•5h ago
Check out the raising of Chicago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago). From buildings up to entire city blocks were raised, moved on rollers, or both, usually while businesses and residents stayed in them for normal day-to-day life.
wenc•1h ago
Chicago also reversed the flow of the Chicago River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River#Reversing_the_fl...

They also rebuilt much of the city because it was wiped out during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and now the grid system is one of the most commonsensical ones in any major American city.

Chicago is an example of a (more or less) clean-slate engineered large city -- one that arose as a result of tragedy (fire) and failure (cholera).

piptastic•4h ago
not quite the same scale area wise, but interesting nonetheless https://www.archdaily.com/973183/the-building-that-moved-how...

As for your actual question, I'm pretty sure we (US, Europe, humans in general) could do quite a bit more than we do now if we had a reason to do so. (or were 100% sure about the results)

dcrazy•4h ago
In 1930 they moved an entire telephone exchange in Indianapolis without even taking it offline: https://indianahistory.org/blog/instead-of-moving-mountains-...

The technology in this video appears to be computer control of the many pistons underneath the raised block. I would estimate that could be done with roughly 1970s-level of technology.

pxc•4h ago
So the impressive thing is really the social coordination, the project management, which was doubtless challenging but is hardly unique.

It's still kind of a wonderful, imo. And it's awesome to be able to see it on video like this.

mayneack•4h ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel#Relocation

In the 60s a massive stone monument was moved 200m up in elevation to avoid being flooded by a dam.

foxglacier•3h ago
Not the same scale but the 4-story concrete building The Museum Hotel in New Zealand was moved on rails in the 1990's https://www.rejigit.co.nz/database/redactor_images/large/689...

Maybe the scale of these other moves were limited by not having the adaptable height jacks to keep everything straight.

slyall•3h ago
Moving single buildings is pretty common

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_relocation

funkaster•3h ago
lower tech/scale but in Chile (in the island of Chiloe) they have been doing this for centuries for individual houses: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moving-houses-of-chilo... - although no smart jacks, only bulls and people.
dluan•28m ago
Something similar but different was back in the early 1900s, several city blocks in Seattle were moved or relocated when large chunks of the city were blasted away with water to flatten it. Although most old buildings were simply demolished.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regrading_in_Seattle

smusamashah•3h ago
I dont understand this. I always thought houses/buildings have underground supports on which the structure is erected. Doesn't have to be tall towers, all small buildings have underground support too.

How come these buildings don't have any of that? Or is the support in form of metal rods which these structures are freely screwed to?

Avicebron•3h ago
I found this because I had a similar question, I think it might be hard to gauge how much prep work was done from the video.

https://parametric-architecture.com/shanghai-relocates-7500-...

The houses: https://shanghaistreetstories.com/?page_id=1288

toast0•3m ago
It looks like the building was constructed on a concrete slab foundation. The slab is poured in the ground, but not anchored into it. When it's time to move it, you dig under the slab to put in jacks to raise it off of the ground underneath the slab. These jacks also can move it a bit at a time.

For smaller buildings, you might jack it up, and put wheels under it to move it. For smaller buildings on perimeter foundation, you might unbolt it from the foundation to move it, and attach it to a newly poured foundation at the new location.

Repairing a sinking foundation is similar... Dig under, lift up as needed, fill in under the sinking areas, hopefully with something more stable.

Much taller buildings need deeper anchoring. Small buildings on sites with difficult soil conditions need deeper anchoring too.

entropie•3h ago
A few years ago they moved a (historic) train station where I lived. It needed to be moved for some underground tube construction, but also a few meters to make the new buildings fit. I witnessed, it was awesome.

https://www.e-architect.com/images/jpgs/leipzig/bayerischer_... / https://www.e-architect.com/leipzig/bayerischer-bahnhof-buil...

RainyDayTmrw•32m ago
This, and the few other famous photos and videos of similar operations, confuse me, because it violates my mental model of how buildings work. My mental model is that a modern building has a large, concrete foundation that extends significantly below the ground, and that the foundation is attached to the structural frame of the rest of the above-ground building. Then, how can jacks, whether manual or robotic, raise a building up off of its foundation?

Also, how can they scoot some, but not all, jacks over on any given step, and alternate? I understand that rigidity isn't fully binary, but I figured that buildings were on the more rigid side.

incompatible•26m ago
These aren't modern buildings, and they aren't skyscrapers that would need significant foundations. The details of the foundations would still be interesting. I suppose they got the process started by finding or clearing spaces underneath, inserting support beams, and jacking them up.
dluan•32m ago
If anyone is ever in Shanghai and interested in seeing this, it's in a very cool area called Fengshengli, where you can see these old preserved style warehouse buildings. The area is filled with hip breweries, coffee shops, bike shops, art galleries, and clothing boutiques, and it's actually not that crowded or busy compared to other touristy spots. It's also nicer compared to Xintiandi imo, where it feels more produced and fake, like a reconstruction as opposed to actual heritage buildings.

Great snapshot of classic Shanghai architecture, blended with new, like this really cool coffee spot: https://www.archdaily.com/973430/birdie-cup-coffee-fog-archi...

OBBB signed: Reinstates immediate expensing for U.S.-based R&D

https://www.kbkg.com/feature/house-passes-tax-bill-sending-to-president-for-signature
152•tareqak•3h ago•74 comments

Baba Is Eval

https://fi-le.net/baba/
42•fi-le•1d ago•3 comments

Mini NASes marry NVMe to Intel's efficient chip

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/mini-nases-marry-nvme-intels-efficient-chip
306•ingve•12h ago•153 comments

Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

https://maalvika.substack.com/p/being-too-ambitious-is-a-clever-form
157•alihm•6h ago•43 comments

ADXL345 Die Analysis

https://www.tinytransistors.net/2024/08/25/adxl345/
10•picture•1h ago•0 comments

Learn to love the moat of low status

https://usefulfictions.substack.com/p/learn-to-love-the-moat-of-low-status
34•jger15•2d ago•21 comments

Nvidia is full of shit

https://blog.sebin-nyshkim.net/posts/nvidia-is-full-of-shit/
456•todsacerdoti•5h ago•232 comments

EverQuest

https://www.filfre.net/2025/07/everquest/
182•dmazin•11h ago•92 comments

Robots move Shanghai city block [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZccC9BnT8k
69•surprisetalk•1d ago•25 comments

The ITTAGE indirect branch predictor

https://blog.nelhage.com/post/ittage-branch-predictor/
25•Bogdanp•3h ago•10 comments

Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to the tune of $2B

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sleeping-beauty-bitcoin-wallets-wake-up-after-14-years-to-the-tune-of-2-billion-79f1f11f
71•aorloff•9h ago•184 comments

The Amiga 3000 Unix and Sun Microsystems: Deal or No Deal?

https://www.datagubbe.se/amix/
39•wicket•6h ago•2 comments

The story behind Caesar salad

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/story-behind-caesar-salad
77•Bluestein•8h ago•37 comments

How to Incapacitate Google Tag Manager and Why You Should (2022)

https://backlit.neocities.org/incapacitate-google-tag-manager
133•fsflover•9h ago•90 comments

Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

https://sailhealth.substack.com/p/why-i-left-my-tech-job-to-work-on
288•glasscannon•15h ago•181 comments

Larry (cat)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_(cat)
266•dcminter•18h ago•66 comments

Show HN: I AI-coded a tower defense game and documented the whole process

https://github.com/maciej-trebacz/tower-of-time-game
219•M4v3R•15h ago•121 comments

Continue (YC S23) is hiring software engineers in San Francisco

https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/continue/jobs
1•sestinj•6h ago

Writing a Game Boy Emulator in OCaml

https://linoscope.github.io/writing-a-game-boy-emulator-in-ocaml/
221•ibobev•18h ago•39 comments

Show HN: AirBending – Hand gesture based macOS app MIDI controller

https://www.nanassound.com/products/software/airbending
52•bepitulaz•8h ago•12 comments

Kepler.gl

https://kepler.gl/
132•9woc•13h ago•18 comments

Show HN: Flint – Write code your way while ensuring remote consistency

https://github.com/capsulescodes/flint
12•mho22•3d ago•1 comments

Everything around LLMs is still magical and wishful thinking

https://dmitriid.com/everything-around-llms-is-still-magical-and-wishful-thinking
196•troupo•6h ago•195 comments

Bcachefs may be headed out of the kernel

https://lwn.net/Articles/1027289/
103•ksec•14h ago•150 comments

Wind Knitting Factory

https://www.merelkarhof.nl/work/wind-knitting-factory
228•bschne•1d ago•59 comments

Show HN: Tinykv – Minimal file-backed key-value store for Rust

https://crates.io/crates/tinykv
13•hasanyildiz•5h ago•1 comments

ChatGPT creates phisher's paradise by serving the wrong URLs for major companies

https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/03/ai_phishing_websites/
155•josephcsible•9h ago•17 comments

Compression Dictionary Transport

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Guides/Compression_dictionary_transport
78•todsacerdoti•12h ago•24 comments

Gremllm

https://github.com/awwaiid/gremllm
91•andreabergia•11h ago•13 comments

Open Source and FPGA Maker Board for Networking

https://privateisland.tech/betsy
16•private_island•7h ago•3 comments