About

In order to grow, we must first measure!

Our technology to grow your business

We appreciate the care, dedication and effort taken to grow beautiful apples.

AppleIQ was born out of our commitment to develop real solutions to enable that fruit care passion to continue right through to final point of sale.

We look forward to working with you to continually improve our technology and your outcomes.

Patented cutting edge tech

With decades of expertise in high-performance, low-power electronics and measurement system technology, our team has developed AppleIQ to establish the benchmark in post-harvest force measurement.

Waterproof

From the beginning the team was challenged to make AppleIQ waterproof to be used in flumes, bin dumps and wet areas. This required a patented new technology, developed and extensively tested in house by our team.

Designed for action

Through computer FEA analysis, extensive design iterations and testing our team has engineered AppleIQ to meet the rigors of real world conditions while maintaining the weight of an apple. Ready and able to deliver insights.

User focused

Our team are hands on engineers with real world experience. It was important for us to make AppleIQ practical to be used all day in the field. With sensible useful features that truly add value for the user.

Our talented team use their experience to develop cutting edge measurement solutions to solve real world problems

Real Instruments 49 years in the making

David Rhodes

VP Electronics, Software. Founder

AppleIQ brings real measurements in the real world to an industry that has had limited options to quantify fruit care. This development is a result of a lifetime of dedication to engineering, measurement, and science. This technology is a lights on moment for the industry, giving visibility that has never been available before.

Michael Wood

VP Engineering. Founder

My enduring passion for science, measurement, and engineering finds its ideal outlet at Real Instruments, where I fuse my wealth of experience and interests in material handling, automation, research and development, product design, and cutting-edge manufacturing to craft tangible, real-world solutions. Witnessing our technology unearth valuable insights is profoundly rewarding, and this journey is merely the beginning.

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Our Story

Real Instruments was established after several years of work to conquer the engineering challenges associated with what we now call AppleIQ. The initial objectives were understood to be exceptionally demanding. The task of packing all the required functionality, electronics, and a battery into a space and weight equivalent to that of an apple presented formidable obstacles. Adding waterproof capabilities only compounded the complexity.

Numerous engineering prototypes were painstakingly crafted, rigorously tested, and ultimately discarded. Our highly experienced R&D team pushed the boundaries of innovation to their limits. The breakthrough moment arrived nearly two years into the project. This pivotal breakthrough can be attributed to unconventional thinking and an unwavering determination.

With the establishment of Real Instruments, extensive design and testing efforts persisted. The end result far surpassed our wildest expectations. AppleIQ is truly remarkable, and we are thrilled to share it with the world.