FloodMate was born out of real-world frustration: sensors that were too fragile, too vague, or too hard to install. We've led national-scale sensor networks before, and we knew there had to be a better way.
Floods are one of the most frequent and devastating natural disasters. And yet, much of our infrastructure for flood awareness still depends on people spotting danger and making a phone call.
Take flood level indicator signs—the ones you see on low-lying rural roads. They work, but only if someone sees them and reports back. In the middle of a downpour or overnight event, that's far from guaranteed.
FloodMate changes that. It can detect rising water levels in real time, and automatically trigger alerts, alarms, or even roadside signage to keep people safe without relying on manual checks.
But while the sensors and data exist to help communities respond faster, too often the systems break down at the point of deployment. Where should sensors go? How do you install them properly in the field? And how can responders actually make sense of the data in real time?
Developed by the Silicon Vandals community, FloodMate is a new kind of flood monitoring tool: not just a sensor, but designed from the ground up to reduce the failure points in flood sensing infrastructure and enable the rapid digitisation of Hazard detection in Australia.
What Makes FloodMate Better?
1. Smarter Sensor Placement
FloodMate is designed to clip directly onto existing flood level indicator signage—those same signs already installed at vulnerable low-lying locations. That means site selection is straightforward: all the effort has already gone into identifying the right places.
2. Easy, Reliable Installation
FloodMate is purpose-built to be clipped onto existing flood level indicator signage using simple brackets and common tools—no drilling, no trenching, no permits. Anyone can install a unit in minutes, even in remote or rural locations. The solid-state design and weatherproof casing ensure it stays operational through harsh conditions with minimal maintenance.
3. Actionable from Day One
Since it digitises an existing piece of data—flood level signage—agencies already know exactly what it means and how to respond. That means FloodMate can drive operational actions from day one, without needing new protocols, training, or data interpretation workflows.
FloodMate was born out of real-world frustration: sensors that were too fragile, too vague, or too hard to install. We've led national-scale sensor networks before, and we knew there had to be a better way.
So we made one.
Our experience with EnviroDrop—an air-deployable environmental sensor designed for rapid deployment from aircraft to measure wind, rain, and atmospheric conditions—highlighted many of the same pain points in deploying sensors in difficult field conditions. That project taught us that hardware alone isn't enough: the deployment process, communication method, and decision-making support are just as critical. FloodMate builds on that learning with a sharper focus on climate resilience and flood response.
FloodMate is field-tested, solo-deployable, and designed to be helpful in the moment—not just in the lab. It's built around a low-cost deployment model, priced at just $290 per unit, and designed to be installed by anyone in minutes using existing roadside signage and infrastructure.
What’s more, FloodMate shares the same IoT stack and solar power system being developed for EnviroDrop, taking advantage of the collective knowledge and capabilities at Silicon Vandals. By reusing tooling across both platforms, we’re able to reduce costs, streamline development, and ensure higher reliability—bringing advanced environmental monitoring tools to more communities for less.
Where EnviroDrop uses world-first technologies to achieve something new, FloodMate takes a different approach—leveraging battle-tested methods to deliver reliability at scale. But let's not sell it short - this is a custom engineered capacitive probe driven from scratch to do something new. It uses capacitive sensing, a solid-state technology that is cheap, robust, and virtually foolproof. No moving parts. No calibration drift. Just consistent performance you can trust in the middle of a storm. It's built around a low-cost deployment model, priced at just $290 per unit, and designed to be installed by anyone in minutes using existing roadside signage and infrastructure.
We're looking to pilot FloodMate across select regions. If you're a council, community group, or climate resilience org looking to improve your flood readiness, get in touch. We’re also looking for partners more generally, who want to help shape the future of field-deployable sensing.
