At the start, I had to choose one of four options, and I immediately picked the Brahmin from the cou

"Which phase of Jiangyang High-tech Zone are you planning to place Xinglan Intelligent Manufacturing in?" he suddenly asked.

"Those two standard factory buildings on the east side of the main building of Phase I."

Li Xiao said.

"Cao Weidong has been holding onto this land, waiting for Xinglan to make a move. As long as we establish our R&D line first, the second and third phases can be expanded smoothly."

Tang Heming hummed in agreement, his gaze still fixed on the document:

"How do we solve the problem of core components for Starbee robots? Jiangyang doesn't have the supply chain for servo motors, reducers, and high-precision bearings."

Li Xiao had anticipated this question, so he had brought Sun Zaiquan's research report with him.

He pulled another document from his bag and handed it to Tang Heming:

"We'll outsource the servo motors and drivers initially, using second-tier domestic brands to stabilize the first generation. For reducers, I plan to source them directly from a medium-sized manufacturer in the south that makes harmonic reducers, and then gradually cultivate our own suppliers. Xinglan will develop the core controller, vision module, and group control software ourselves. Lao Chen's software team has already run scheduling algorithms with over a million concurrent users, so transferring the same approach to robots shouldn't be a problem. What I lack is an engineering team that can screw these ideas into reality."

"How do you plan to recruit an engineering team?"

Tang Heming closed the file and turned to look at him.

Li Xiao smiled, without giving a direct answer:

"That's a secret for now. Just know that I've already scouted out the people, and there's more than one. They'll come on their own once Jiang Yang's nameplate is put up."

Tang Heming glanced at him, but didn't press further. He just snorted, "You always have more tricks up your sleeve than you show. Fine, I won't ask. Bring him to Jiangyang and let me see him then."

After leaving the administration building, Li Xiao went straight back to his dorm. He found Zheng Hao's wardrobe empty; the Alienware computer and PS5 on his desk were gone. Since getting together with Lin Miaomiao, Zheng Hao had moved out, and he was happy to have some peace and quiet.

After all, she only stayed in the dormitory occasionally; she spent most of her time at Xia Wei's place.

Li Xiao took out his computer, and after the screen lit up, he pulled up an encrypted document containing a talent distribution map of the domestic intelligent warehousing equipment field that he had been compiling over the past few days.

Chen Qiming is meticulous, while Sun Zaiquan is quick; the two of them pieced together a relatively complete resource list for him from their respective perspectives.

Li Xiao went through the document from beginning to end, highlighted a few names, then closed his eyes and focused his consciousness into the system.

He needs to verify something.

Since redeeming the Cross-Domain Engineering Manufacturing Mindset Coordinator, a faint blue icon has appeared on the system panel, resembling a half-open eye hovering in the upper left corner of the [Industrial Ecosystem] page.

He clicked on the icon, and a brand new subpage unfolded in his mind. The overall interface was simpler than other modules in the system, with only a horizontal progress bar, a description box for the team to be bound, and an interactive window called Adaptability Analysis.

The system's explanation is very clear:

While the Synchronizer can be directly bound to a team, it is a one-time group buff item. The closer the bound team is to the cross-domain engineering and manufacturing direction required by Starbees, the greater the buff's effectiveness.

To maximize effectiveness, the team should have basic collaborative potential in the dimensions of robot control, embedded systems, industrial design, and supply chain engineering.

The system also has a backdoor that allows for a preliminary screening of candidate teams before actual binding, to see which team best matches the requirements.

Li Xiao mentally created a shortlist of candidates. The information on the list came from an external survey.

In a medium-sized company in Jianye that makes automotive electronic control units, a six-person embedded development team had just gone through a departmental merger.

A structural design director at an industrial robot company in Suzhou resigned last month.

In addition, there are several senior engineers who are freelance developers scattered in different cities. These people were all people who came into Sun Zaiquan's sights through headhunting channels.

He entered the list into the system's compatibility analysis window. A series of extremely fine data streams appeared on the blue screen, like countless transparent lines repeatedly weaving through, comparing, and scoring the names on the list. After about half a minute, the results came out.

Surprisingly, the person ranked first was not the former director of the Suzhou robotics company, nor any well-organized team, but a man named Luo Tiangong.

Li Xiao looked at the name and then pulled up the detailed rating provided by the system.

Luo Tiangong, 37 years old, has a bachelor's and master's degree in mechanical and electronic engineering. He won first prize in the National College Student Robot Competition during his university years. After graduation, he first went to the automation department of a leading domestic home appliance company, where he worked for three years on improving production line robotic arms.

Afterwards, he switched to a startup that makes AGV warehouse robots, working his way up from mechanical structure to complete system, and was one of the company's earliest core employees.

Three years ago, the startup was acquired by Zhou Bingsheng's Bingsheng Logistics under the guise of strategic investment. Luo Tiangong was left in the newly established technology center as a senior engineering manager, but in reality, his R&D decision-making power was hollowed out, and he could only lead a few old subordinates to do equipment maintenance and old product iteration.

What truly earned him a high score from the system was his status as the patent inventor of a multi-vehicle collaborative obstacle avoidance scheduling system that he spearheaded during his last two years at that AGV company.

Although that system never achieved mass production under Bingsheng Logistics, its core algorithm was later dissected. Its rigorous logic and sophisticated handling of complex dynamic scenarios remain among the best in the domestic warehousing AGV industry today.

The compatibility between Luo Tiangong and the Xingfeng system in terms of underlying architecture is naturally high.

After checking the results, Li Xiao exited the app and shut down the system.

Zhou Bingsheng would never have imagined that when he took over that AGV company, he felt that the original team was incompatible with the old team of Bingsheng Logistics, so he left a person who could really make the prototype of Starbee in the technology center as a senior repairman.

Since Zhou Bingsheng can't use it well, he doesn't mind taking over.

It's true that Zhou Bingsheng just seems to have a knack for getting along with these kinds of people. First it was Su Wenjing, and then it was Luo Tiangong. There's a reason why Bingsheng can only live off his past achievements now.

But if we were to undertake such a major project now, we might alert the enemy.

Luo Tiangong is still nominally an employee of Bingsheng Logistics. No matter how distant his relationship with Zhou Bingsheng is, he cannot escape the employment relationship.

Li Xiao didn't want Luo Tiangong to switch jobs; he wanted him to bring his remaining capable subordinates and transform them into Xinglan Intelligent Manufacturing's first fully-fledged R&D force.

This requires timing and a suitable entry point.