At a factory in China's north, workers are busy testing an automated vehicle designed to move bulky items around industrial spaces, one of a new generation of robots Beijing wants to shift the country's manufacturing up the value chain.
The robot's Tianjin-based maker has received tax breaks and government-guaranteed loans to build products that modernize China's vast factory sector and advance its technological expertise.
"The government is paying great attention to the manufacturing sector and the real economy — we can feel that," said Ren Zhiyong, general manager of Tianjin Langyu Robot Co.