Keep the Change Podcast
The robotics industry is accelerating faster than ever and we’re right in the middle of it. In this episode, our CEO and Founder Lachlan Murray sits down with Luke Kemeys from Keep the Change to unpack the rapid growth of modern robotics, the rise of humanoid machines, and how these technologies are reshaping the way people live and work.
From scaling Robomate from just 3 staff to more than 75, to breaking down misconceptions about the robotics space, Lachlan shares real insights, real lessons, and a clear look at where the future is heading.
From a Backyard Side Hustle to 75 Staff: Robomate's Founder on Keep the Change.
Our founder and CEO, Lachlan, recently sat down with the Keep the Change podcast to talk about how Robomate went from a shaky side project in 2018 to one of New Zealand's fastest-growing companies and why household robots are only just getting started.
A rough start.
The idea actually came from Lachlan's dad, who imported a robot lawn mower back in 2008 and spent years insisting it would make a good business one day. When Robomate launched in 2018, Lachlan admits his dad was "completely wrong", the technology just wasn't good enough yet, and the business was, in his words, "terrible." It took until 2023, when a genuinely capable all-terrain mower finally hit the market, for things to click.
Betting everything on a container load.
That turning point came with a catch: Robomate had seven days to pay for its first shipment, a few hundred thousand dollars and zero dollars in the bank. Lachlan launched a website, emailed the existing customer base, and pre-sold half the container on 50% deposits within days, all while working with BNZ to pull together funding over a single weekend. The bank backed him with an unsecured overdraft, and Robomate has been almost entirely bootstrapped ever since. From there, growth was relentless: from a team of three in September 2023 to around 75 people today, alongside a network of vans doing in-home demos, installs and servicing right across the country.
Why now, and what's next?
Lachlan puts the current boom down to a familiar tech pattern: products cross a quality threshold, adoption takes off, and costs start falling fast. Robot mowers can finally handle New Zealand's tough, unfenced sections without buried perimeter wires, using GPS and LiDAR to navigate instead. He expects the same curve to hit agriculture next, and predicts humanoid robots will become "the third commonly financed item" for households, right behind a mortgage and a car. Robomate has also just expanded into Australia, where robot mower adoption sits at a fraction of markets like Sweden, a gap Lachlan sees as a major opportunity. The bit that surprised us most Asked what he'd tell founders starting out today, Lachlan didn't point to funding or timing, he pointed to content. Long before Robomate could compete on price, it built trust by putting a real person on camera answering the questions customers were actually asking. As he put it: sales come down to trust first, and everything else follows from there.
Catch the full conversation on the Keep the Change podcast below:
