A TEAM of scientists at the University of Glasgow have recreated the "cloud computing" pioneered by Google, Amazon and Apple using just Lego bricks and cheap computer boards.
In recent years cloud computing has become increasingly popular, with major corporations making huge investments to provide software and hardware resources to business and home computer users over the internet.
However, those companies maintain a great deal of secrecy over how their systems work, making it difficult for computer science researchers and students to develop practical understanding of cloud infrastructure.
The Glasgow group set out to mimic the service offered by high-end firms using low cost Raspberry Pi computers while assembling the chassis to hold the machine together from children's building blocks.
The Raspberry Pi Cloud is thought to be the first working prototype developed by a university in the UK and cost just £4000 to build.
Dr Jeremy Singer, of the University's School of Computing Science, said: "Although we've been offering lectures for students on cloud computing for several years now, the Raspberry Pi Cloud gives us a major advantage over other universities because we can now offer students hands-on experience with cloud computing hardware and software and give them a unique skillset they can take into the job market."
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