China has unveiled what it says is the world’s first boring and blasting machine (BBM), a new tunneling system designed to handle some of the most difficult underground conditions. Tsinghua University and China Railway Science & Industry Group (CRSIC), a subsidiary of China Railway Group Ltd, worked together to develop the BBM. This machine brings together tunnel boring machine (TBM) technology and traditional drilling and blasting in one system. Conventional hard-rock tunnel boring machines also struggle to adjust when the ground changes suddenly. The company explains that the system can switch between different ways of working based on the rock conditions inside the tunnel.