'King Kong' invades SDSU’s Structural Engineering Laboratory

Undergraduate engineering students build a giant mechanical structure to test the destructive force of earthquakes.
A team of undergraduate engineering students at San Diego State University have built a large mechanized structure dubbed “King Kong” to test the impact of earthquakes on buildings and bridges. The 15-foot-tall machine - resembling a giant red LEGO tower on a black, 240 sq. foot platform - is named for the size and strength of the classic movie monster. It will simulate the shaking of a major (7.0-7.9 magnitude) earthquake.