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How Raspberry Pi Devices Power Real-World Innovation
Published on 27 Nov, 2025 by Jonathan
From powering recording studios to optimising plant growth and cutting single-use plastics in workplaces, Raspberry Pi devices are transforming industries, and Green Custard is right at the heart of this movement.
As both an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner and an accredited Raspberry Pi Design Partner, Green Custard has helped customers across sectors turn Raspberry Pi hardware into scalable, secure, production-ready IoT solutions. Our role as an IoT integrator goes far beyond hardware selection: we support customers across architecture design, embedded development, cloud integration, data analytics, and fleet operations.
This blog explores recent customer successes, Pirate Studios, Gardin, and Britvic’s Aqua Libra Flavour Tap, showcasing how Raspberry Pi enables powerful IoT capabilities when paired with AWS and Green Custard’s engineering expertise.
Raspberry Pi in the Real World: Why Customers Choose It
When organisations pick a platform for IoT, Raspberry Pi becomes a go-to choice, and it’s easy to see why. Below are the main strengths that make Raspberry Pi such a powerful foundation when paired with the cloud and a systems integrator like Green Custard
Large community, broad documentation, and ecosystem
Because of its widespread adoption, Raspberry Pi boasts a vast ecosystem of tutorials, community support, and existing integrations. This extensive documentation and tooling accelerate development, significantly lower project risk, and simplify interoperability with other hardware or cloud stacks. For integrators like Green Custard, this allows them to efficiently leverage open-source tools and plug-in modules to deliver reliable customer solutions.
Affordability and small form factor
Raspberry Pi boards are significantly more cost-effective than industrial servers or full PCs, making them suitable for a wide array of uses, from initial pilots to large fleet deployments. Their compact, credit-card-sized design is a major advantage, making them an ideal choice for embedded systems, edge deployments, and any solution where physical space is constrained, such as inside a music studio or an under-counter dispenser.
Strong OS and software ecosystem + compatibility with cloud and IoT platforms
Supporting Linux-based operating systems, Raspberry Pi allows developers to leverage mature software stacks, containerisation, and scripting languages like Python. Crucially, its compatibility with standard IoT protocols (MQTT, HTTP) simplifies seamless integration with major cloud services, such as AWS IoT, and backend analytics pipelines. This robust software foundation dramatically reduces time-to-market, cuts complexity, and enables rapid transition from proof-of-concept to scalable, production-ready systems.
Rich connectivity and broad hardware support
Raspberry Pi offers rich, built-in connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Bluetooth, alongside multiple interfaces like GPIO and USB. This extensive hardware support makes integrating a wide variety of peripherals, such as sensors, actuators, cameras, and displays, straightforward. It is ideal for both initial prototyping and full production, enabling the connection of everything from simple temperature sensors to complex machine-vision hardware without requiring additional, complex intermediary components.
Rapid prototyping, learning, and developer accessibility
Designed to democratise computing, Raspberry Pi is highly accessible, even for beginners, making it easy to quickly initiate IoT projects and build proof-of-concepts without requiring large upfront investment or specialised hardware. This "hacker-to-production" friendliness is a key benefit for both start-ups and established enterprises. It enables rapid iteration, efficient testing of assumptions, and a smooth pathway to scaling new IoT-enabled products or services from a simple pilot to a large-scale deployment.
At Green Custard, we take customers from idea to validated prototype through our Embedded Device Prototyping and Development service. Whether you’re exploring a new Raspberry Pi–based product or retrofitting connectivity into existing equipment, our team helps design, prototype, test, and refine embedded hardware and software ready for scale.
Raspberry Pi brings together affordability, flexibility, connectivity, and a mature software ecosystem, making it an ideal platform for IoT, whether you’re building a single prototype or deploying hundreds of devices in production. With Green Custard’s proven track record in embedded, cloud and IoT engineering, we help unlock all these benefits for our customers, turning Raspberry Pi hardware into scalable, secure, production-ready systems.
Customer Success 1: Pirate Studios Cut Costs by 90% with Raspberry Pi
Pirate Studios operates fully self-service music rehearsal and recording studios. To improve customer experience and prevent out-of-hours equipment usage, they needed a reliable, automated method to control power across their 770+ studios.
The Challenge
- Ensure equipment powers on only during valid bookings
- Safely shut down equipment when users overstay
- Avoid manual intervention across a geographically distributed estate
The Raspberry Pi-Powered Solution
Working with Green Custard, Pirate deployed a “kill switch” system powered by the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. These acted as local controllers, managing studio power with secure connectivity and cloud integration.
The result? A 90% cost reduction was achieved by automating studio control and removing manual operational overheads.
You can read the full case study here: 🔗 https://www.green-custard.com/customers/pirate-studios/
Customer Success 2: Gardin's Real-Time Response Agriculture with the Raspberry Pi Compute Module
Gardin is redefining agriculture with optical sensors and analytics that measure plant physiology in real time. Their goal: empower growers to optimise conditions continually, not reactively.
Why Raspberry Pi?
Gardin selected the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 for the balance of computing power to cost required for sophisticated machine vision workloads in an embedded form factor.
Green Custard supported Gardin with:
- Secure IoT architecture
- Device provisioning and configuration
- Cloud integration on AWS
- Data ingestion pipelines and analytics tooling
- End-to-end system reliability for fleet deployment
Gardin’s system autonomously adjusts operational parameters in real time—a concept they call Real-Time Response Agriculture.
Full story: 🔗 https://www.green-custard.com/customers/real-time-response-agriculture-with-gardin/
Customer Success 3: Britvic’s Aqua Libra Flavour Tap with Raspberry Pi CM4
One of the most impactful applications of Raspberry Pi in the last year has been Britvic’s Aqua Libra Flavour Tap, a sustainable flavoured water dispenser designed for workplaces and retail environments.
The Sustainability Challenge
A typical UK office generates 23,000 plastic bottles per year. Britvic wanted a solution that:
- Removes single-use containers
- Uses real-time IoT data to track consumption
- Allows easy updates and remote device management
- Offers a modern, touchscreen-driven user experience
Green Custard’s Raspberry Pi-Based Solution
As described in the Britvic case study, Green Custard:
- Developed and deployed the initial prototype in just 3 months
- Integrated the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, enabling direct LCD touchscreen control and improved reliability
- Implemented AWS IoT Greengrass, allowing Britvic to deploy updates remotely and scale operations across hundreds of devices
- Built a hardware-in-the-loop testing system using Raspberry Pi Pico to simulate real-world cartridge behaviour and optimise reliability
These capabilities now help Britvic operate more efficiently, rolling out features, flavours, and firmware without physical site visits.
Impact
- Each fully stocked Flavour Tap can eliminate 10,000 plastic bottles, reducing waste and emissions
- Near-real-time IoT data helps Britvic analyse usage patterns and restocking needs
- The product is now being rolled out nationally
Beyond Implementation: How Green Custard Supports Raspberry Pi Innovation
Across all these projects, several themes define Green Custard’s approach:
1. Full-Lifecycle IoT Integration
From edge hardware selection to cloud analytics pipelines, we unify device and cloud engineering into a cohesive product experience.
2. Security-First Architecture
We manage authentication, provisioning, over-the-air updates, and secure communication, critical for large distributed fleets.
3. Scalable Testing & Operations
We build automated, reproducible testing environments, including hardware-in-the-loop rigs (as used for Aqua Libra), to validate embedded behaviour at scale.
4. Raspberry Pi Expertise
As a Raspberry Pi Design Partner, Green Custard brings deep knowledge of:
- Pi Pico for embedded control
- CM4 & 5 for compute-intensive workloads
- Linux-device integration
- Long-term support and manufacturing considerations
5. IoT Competency on AWS
Green Custard is recognised globally with AWS’s prestigious IoT Competency, meaning we meet the highest industry bar for IoT delivery, security, and scalability.
Conclusion: Raspberry Pi + AWS + Green Custard = IoT Innovation Delivered
Whether optimising logistics, enabling sustainability, transforming agriculture, or automating operations, Raspberry Pi devices offer an unbeatable platform for IoT product development.
But the hardware is only the beginning.
Green Custard helps customers turn Raspberry Pi devices into production-ready, secure, scalable IoT solutions, reducing risk, accelerating time-to-market, and unlocking data-driven insights.
If you’d like support developing your own connected product, we’d love to talk.