Mechanical mastermind

Lin always sees Guo in the lab. "Whether weekdays or weekends, he is there without fail and he often arrives earlier than us," she says.

Guo founded a startup with two friends when he obtained his bachelor's degree. They were focusing on making laboratory equipment.

After spending about half a year developing his product, he found his ability to market it somewhat lacking. As a fresh graduate, a dearth of experience in managing a company swayed his decision to dissolve the business.

However, he never gave up on the idea of being an entrepreneur. In 2015, when he enrolled in the Ocean University of China for his master's study, an investor who learned about his "picking" robot offered him an opportunity to start a business again.

He said yes, on the condition that, this time, all of his focus, research and invention would be on the robot itself, while everyday management and marketing affairs would be delegated to others.

His current project is developing a robot that can work in high-risk environments.

"An invention in the college lab is more of an academic endeavor, while commercial design and development requires a mature product for the market," Guo says.

The latest fruit of Guo's labor is a "firefighter" robot that can enter the scene of a fire to investigate, put out the fire and carry trapped people out.

"The robot can endure a high-risk environment, such as being surrounded by flammable gas and it can climb stairs and slopes at gradients over 30 degrees," he says.

The robot has already been put through its paces by some fire brigades and Guo is currently updating the robot's functionality to detect fires at the scene of an emergency more comprehensively and extinguish the blaze more efficiently.