For RDM to be much help, you'd need a smoke machine that supports RDM. Then it could use one of several mechanisms provided by the RDM protocol to let the controller know when it was ready.
If the smoke machine doesn't support RDM, you're in a tough spot. It would be possible to build an RDM photosensor that would sense when the 24 v lamps comes on and report that to the controller via RDM, but I'm not aware of anyone that builds such a product.
RDM really has to be built into the product by the manufacturer. It's not something that you, as an end user, can easily retrofit into a device*.
*The Wybron Infochip can be used to add basic RDM support to some non-RDM fixtures, but it won't offer the level of functionality you're requesting. It only allows you to set DMX addresses remotely, and won't allow you to read status back from the unit.
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