Christchurch robotics firm transforms security and border protection across ANZ

A building inspector once complained to Ravi Sanyal that he didn't want to crawl under houses anymore. Sanyal, then working in a different field, made a simple promise: he'd build a robot to do it instead. He went to YouTube, learned what he needed to learn, and made one. That was the beginning. Today, nearly a decade later, Sanyal runs Techmatics Robotics from a modest facility in Middleton, on Christchurch's west side, and his machines are doing far more consequential work than inspecting subfloors. They're searching shipping containers for hidden drugs. They're scanning vehicle undersides for explosives. They're peering into the hulls of ships below the waterline. They're looking for invasive insects that could devastate New Zealand's agriculture. And they're doing all of this so that human officers don't have to.

The shift from sending people into uncertain situations to sending machines first has been gradual but unmistakable. Techmatics manufactures a range of inspection and surveillance robots now deployed across New Zealand and Australia by government agencies and security operators at ports, airports, prisons, and other high-security installations. The company is small—Sanyal and six robotics experts, all working under one roof—but the reach of their work is substantial. Every design, every circuit board, every line of code is built onsite in Christchurch, which Sanyal considers essential to the company's ability to adapt quickly and maintain quality.

The drivers pushing this adoption are straightforward: safety and the escalating sophistication of modern security threats. Paul Campbell, assistant comptroller of maritime operations for New Zealand Customs, explained that remotely operated vehicles and uncrewed surface vessels have become integral to the agency's maritime border security strategy. The scale of the maritime environment is vast, and the methods used by transnational crime groups to conceal drugs and contraband on vessels are increasingly complex. Machines can gather intelligence, monitor activity, and assess risk in places that are difficult or dangerous for officers to access. They extend human capability without exposing human beings to the initial hazard.

Techmatics' product line reflects this logic. The Hades range handles subfloor, under-vehicle, and pipe inspections—tasks that once required officers to lie on the ground or use handheld mirrors, both slow and potentially unsafe. The Cerberus-X is a throwable tactical robot designed for security operations and tactical surveillance. It can be literally thrown into a room or building, equipped with full voice communication, thermal imaging, and the ability to function as a covert listening platform. Officers can scan for threats before entering. The company has supplied crawlspace inspection robots to the Australian Army, negotiation-support and tactical surveillance robots to Queensland police, and under-vehicle inspection systems to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency in Britain, which uses them at venues like the Glastonbury music festival to detect explosives and weapons on vehicles entering secure zones.

In New Zealand, the adoption has been steady. Aviation Security, Corrections, and the Reserve Bank have all deployed Techmatics robots for under-vehicle inspections, searching for drugs and weapons. Biosecurity New Zealand has been using the Hades robots since 2019, and the results have been significant enough that the agency is now trialing the technology for inspecting the undersides of shipping containers—a task that previously required containers to be placed on hardstands for manual inspection by officers. The latest generation of robots includes advanced imaging to identify pests like brown marmorated stink bugs, which could otherwise slip through and damage New Zealand's agricultural ecosystems. Biosecurity commissioner Andrew Spelman noted that the technology reduces the need to ramp vehicles for inspection, improving staff safety while enabling thorough checks. The agency is now considering proposals to use similar systems to inspect the sides of shipping containers as well.

What distinguishes Techmatics from larger robotics manufacturers is Sanyal's insistence on keeping everything in Christchurch. Design, software engineering, electronics, manufacturing—all of it happens onsite. This allows the company to service and adapt products rapidly for customers with specific needs. Demand has grown to the point where Sanyal is looking for a larger facility and planning to expand his team. But he's not interested in proliferating product lines. His goal is to refine what already exists, to specialize, and to be genuinely excellent at a focused set of tasks.

Sanyal speaks about the work with evident satisfaction. He describes it not as work but as something he enjoys, something that feels like making things happen. There are challenges—customers to satisfy, problems to solve—but when he sees the robots operating in the field, doing the job they were designed to do, the satisfaction is real. New Zealand Police, for now, have limited their robotic deployment to drones, though they've indicated they're watching other jurisdictions to see what might enhance their capabilities. But the principle is spreading: before sending a person into an unknown or dangerous situation, ask whether a machine can go first. In Christchurch, that question is being answered with increasing frequency, and the answers are being built in a small workshop on the city's west side.