The team behind the Raspberry Pi device has been given the Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert Prize at a ceremony in London. The award is the most prestigious engineering award and the device has become the best selling British computer in history (it has sold 14 million so far). It is reckoned to be the third most successful computing hardware platform after the PC and the Mac.
NEC has cleverly exploited the low cost of the PI to use it as a way of adopting SoC technology in its digital signage.
Analyst Comment
I’m proud of the fact that we picked up the story of the Pi from the announcement of the plan to develop it in May 2011. I was an early supporter and buyer in 2012 and planned to play with it. I got it working, but never had the time to play properly! My Mk1 might, I guess, eventually be an antique like my old Apple ][ which is still in the loft! Maybe when I retire….
I also wanted to teach my eldest grandson to use it, but shortly after I got him one to match mine, he got a notebook PC, so I lost him to Minecraft!
The Pi has enabled many youngsters to get into control and programming. That was always the aim of the project, which was inspired by the success of the BBC Micro, a 6502-based computer sold in the UK in the ’80s that was very “hackable”. It is credited with developing many of the coders and developers of games and 3D technology in the UK over the years. (BR)
The inventors of the Raspberry Pi win the MacRobert award
