General5.03.2014

Raspberry Pi Project Proposal competition winners announced

By weich

Johannesburg, South Africa, 4 March 2014 – RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the world’s leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products, and one of two distribution partners for the Raspberry Pi in South Africa, recently announced the winner of their third limited edition Raspberry Pi competition that ran in 2013.

The competition was focussed around Raspberry Pi, the ever so popular credit card sized computer board. Two of the competitions were open to the general public and one of the competitions was specifically for RS customers. To enter the competition you had to submit your idea as to what you would do with your Raspberry Pi if you were to win one. The best and most innovative project proposal was to win a custom designed, limited edition Raspberry Pi board with its blue casing, blue box and certificate of authentication.

Brian Andrew, MD of RS Components South Africa says, “We were totally overwhelmed by the quality and inventiveness of the entries which made judging quite stimulating but challenging.”

The final winner of the third Raspberry Pi competition is the IPC’s Nkoka training team who entered the competition by proposing to use a Raspberry Pi device to create a digital notice board application that integrates personalised advertisements and notices on live television without interfering with live broadcasting feeds.

“We thought this to be extremely original. From the Raspberry Pi, the live television feed images can be manipulated remotely or locally using a computing device such as a smart phone, tablet or laptop. The live television screen is minimised with the side of the television screen displaying the advertisement or notice,” says Brian Andrew.

The Nkoka training team noted in their proposal, none of the traditional communication methods currently used by companies are cost efficient or quick enough to update. With the new Raspberry Pi notice board, personalised adverts can be managed simply and cost effectively from a mere touch of a smart phone. “The Raspberry PI is the future in computing technology and the digital notice board is a step closer,” the winning team stated in their proposal.

“The affordability and versatility of Raspberry Pi is what makes the computer device so attractive. It’s a small, 45g lightweight, credit-card sized computer that can plug into a TV or monitor, keyboard and mouse for use in various electronic applications like spreadsheets, word-processing, games and playing high-definition video, similar to a desktop PC.”

The ARM-based board was developed a little more than two years ago in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to support in educating the next generation of software and hardware engineers in programming from a young age. Computer developers worldwide have however taken a significant interest in this cost-effective device with more than two million units already sold globally.

People across the world, of all ages, have also been using Raspberry Pi to fuel all kinds of innovations. Some in development are using the Raspberry Pi to measure air quality, temperature, humidity, smoke, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. Others have employed the Raspberry Pi in their small businesses to help in acting as a switchboard. It’s even designed to join the dots between a pill dispenser and the GPs who program the administration of the drugs through a website. Correct dosages drop out at specified times, and if sensors detected that pills haven’t been picked up, an alert is sent to a family member who can provide a reminder. And some of the younger developers have even written their own computer games. There are many more such examples.

“We are excited about the future of the Raspberry Pi, and look forward to what visionary thinkers will develop next to bring their innovations to life.” says Brian Andrew.