China has posted better-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter of this year - 0.5 percent higher than had been predicted by analysts polled by Reuters.

There was also a boom in retail sales last month and a five-month high increase in industrial production, according to the statistics from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics. 

Some of this growth has been borne out of sales of industrial automation equipment - otherwise known as robots - some of which were on show at Germany's Hannover Messe trade show this week. 

Hangzhou-based robotics company Unitree was an early industry leader in the manufacture of so-called robo-dogs. They have seen a steady increase in orders of their products over the last few months since China's reopening following the COVID pandemic.

Sales of Chinese-made robo-dogs to Europe have helped to boost China's economy in the first few months of the year. /CGTN.

One of the company's larger models can respond to human instructions such as "sit" and "turn around" just like a real dog, and has been designed to enter environments that aren't safe for humans. They can also act as security guards, patrolling buildings before returning to a charging station when needed and provide photo and video footage of trespassers.

Unitree Sales Manger Min Zhang has attributed the surge in sales abroad to a number of factors. 

He said: "Firstly, China has a huge amount of resources, the human resources, the hardware as well. The second reason is the cost from China, it's more economical than any other place. Third, I would say that it's our technical ability and hard work, that's why the sales have increased."

Shenzhen-based company, Han's Robot, has also enjoyed a rise in European sales. They specialize in robots and co-bots - that's a robot that can work safely alongside a human for use in industrial environments that require grabbing, welding and other repetitive tasks.

"This year the business is really growing, particularly the co-bot business," said Amy Zhou. "We have many partners out of China and we are developing more. You can say that the robot co-bot industry is growing up this year."

Gintaras Rinsa is the chair of Baltic CNC Technologies. He explained why the company first went to China for their machines.

Rinsa told CGTN Europe: "At the beginning we selected them from other robot producers because of the very competitive price. But now we see that there are also no problems with quality, so now we extend our activity. We started with one robot, now we have 10, and we are planning to buy more."