Our Journey
Built in Geelong since 2009
RM2 passes IP67 and EMC compliance testing
LaunchVic Agtech grant funds first production batch and field trials
Rhino Instruments Pty Ltd incorporated with David Spear as director
Featured in City of Greater Geelong Clean Economy Investment Prospectus
Industry roots
Our experience in composting and organics goes back to at least 2009, working hands-on and building the domain knowledge that eventually drives everything Rhino Instruments does.
Future of Local Food and Microbe
Sequence Digital creates the Future of Local Food conference with Backyard Harvest and the Municipal Association of Victoria, bringing together local government, food producers, and sustainability professionals at Treasury Theatre in Melbourne.
During this period we also build Microbe, a cloud-based operations management system for a commercial composting facility – tracking deliveries, materials, weights, and compost batch IDs. The operational foundations that later inform everything we build.
City of Greater Geelong compost management system
Raj Pandita and Patrick Blampied build and deploy a cloud-based compost operations management system for the City of Greater Geelong’s Garden Organics Processing Facility. Over 300,000 operational records captured to date. Still operational today, it made the need for remote temperature monitoring impossible to ignore.
Cleantech Innovations grant, commercialisation efforts begin
The composting facility needed a way to remotely monitor stockpile temperatures after hours and on weekends. Nothing on the market combined portable, cellular, and simple in the way the site needed. We couldn’t buy it, so we built it. City of Greater Geelong awards a Cleantech Innovations grant to develop our prototype into a commercial solution.
Custom hardware and field testing
The prototype goes from breadboard to custom-designed PCB through multiple board revisions. The enclosure evolves from off-the-shelf parts to fabricated steel sections. Customer feedback leads us to land on a solution featuring single button operation, always on display for local readout, GPS locating, 4G connectivity, and built in solar. All that in a waterproof enclosure.
RM1 certified
The RM1 goes through rigorous EMC testing at an independent facility. Dozens of systematic test sessions over months, methodically testing across every component and configuration. We pass all required Australian regulatory assessments.
Pilot launch, media coverage
September – Official pilot launch at the City of Greater Geelong’s composting facility with local government representatives and media. Patrick presents at the Farmers2Founders HatchTek accelerator.
October – Coverage across TV (7News), radio (Bay FM, K-Rock), print (Geelong Advertiser, Geelong Times, Bellarine Times, Geelong Independent, Ocean Grove Voice), industry publications (Council Magazine, Fire Australia Magazine), and Waste Management World Austria on the front page.
November – Sustainability Victoria awards a Recycling Victoria Markets Acceleration Fund grant for research into reuse of recovered lithium-ion battery cells.
Research partnership with Central Queensland University
Technology partnership with CQU for the Green Solutions project, extending the monitoring platform into new research applications. Further coverage on 7News Bundaberg and ABC Wide Bay Rural Report.
AORA conference and business registration
Rhino Instruments registered as a business name. Patrick presents at the AORA (Australian Organics Recycling Association) national conference on building cloud-based compost operations management. The RM1 showcased at the Deakin University Advanced Manufacturing Showcase.
ACASE NEXUS 2023
Raj presents Rhino Instruments at the ACASE NEXUS 2023 Pitch Competition at the Park Hyatt Melbourne, walking through our journey from a decade of web development to building hardware for the composting industry.
RM2 development funded and underway
City of Greater Geelong Clean Economy Grant awarded to progress the commercialisation of a next-generation RM2 with a lithium-ion battery management system that can handle mixed-capacity second-life li-ion cells. We’re grateful to the City of Greater Geelong for backing us again through both the original Cleantech Innovation program and now this round. The RM2 is a ground-up redesign that stays true to the best parts of the RM1: compact electronics housed in a cutting edge 3D-printed stainless steel enclosure with glass display panel, complete firmware rewrite and new data console.
Li-ion battery reuse case study published
Full case study published from the Sustainability Victoria-funded research on commercial reuse of discarded lithium-ion batteries in Australia. 59.41% of the 202 cells extracted still had more than 80% of their original capacity.
RM2 passes compliance testing
The RM2 passes IP67 water ingress testing and EMC emissions testing, validated against the RM1’s certified baseline. Design review completed. IP right filed with IP Australia.
LaunchVic Agtech Grants Program for customer trials
LaunchVic Agtech Grants Program signed. Funding secured for first batch manufacturing run of the new RM2, ready for field trials across multiple composting and waste management sites in Victoria. The trials catch design issues that only show up in the real world.
Ascend Your Story podcast
Patrick featured on the Ascend Your Story podcast by Ascent Media alongside guests from Deakin University and ChargeFox and more.
Rhino Instruments Pty Ltd incorporated
Rhino Instruments Pty Ltd incorporated as a separate entity (ACN 695 096 658) with David Spear joining as a director and shareholder. Sequence Digital started as a software company and the hardware side of things needed its own structure. David brings over 20 years of experience in strategic design and commercialisation, and deep roots in Geelong’s sustainability community as Chairperson of Geelong Sustainability.
First batch manufacturing and trial deployment
First production batch of RM2 units built, tested, and deployed to trial partners across Victoria. The build process surfaced manufacturing gaps that needed formalising before scaling – thread tapping outsourced to a local mechanical engineering shop, firmware loading set up as a dedicated manufacturing station with documented process.
Featured in City of Greater Geelong investment prospectus
Proud to see Rhino Instruments featured in the City of Greater Geelong’s Clean Economy Investment Prospectus alongside Barwon Water, Capricorn Power, Geelong Port, Deakin University, FormFlow, and Viva Energy. Serious company to be keeping.
AORA National Conference – exhibitors
Exhibiting at the AORA national conference with the RM2 on the stand, live demo, keen to talk to anyone in organics, waste management, or agriculture. From presenting the concept in 2023 to exhibiting a certified, field-tested commercial product in 2026.