We like the unsung heroes of the automotive world here at TLCB. These are the vehicles without which daily life would grind to a halt, but which spend their days unseen and unappreciated, working around the clock to keep the wheels of society turning. The greatest of these is perhaps the forklift, and Flickr’s Mahjqa has decided to give this humble automotive ant its time in the sun.

This is his ‘Muravi’ forklift, and it is – and we’re not overstating this – probably the best piece of Lego engineering that you will have seen this year. Brilliantly packaged within it are remotely controlled drive, rear-steer, and forklift raising, lowering and tilting mechanisms, all of which are operable via a bluetooth  device courtesy of the neat third-party SBrick.

Mahjqa’s system works as beautifully and flawlessly as any real forklift, and to demonstrate its abilities Mahjqa has created a simply enthralling video of his creation at work. It’s one of the the coolest Lego videos we’ve ever seen, and it’s making us think very carefully about whether we need Elves to work in TLCB Archives when a couple of these will do the job so much more efficiently. And without any fights.

There’s lots more to see at Mahjqa’s Flickr photostream, and you can watch the Muravi forklift in action via the superb video below.

YouTube Video: