Clients | Green Vertex

Our Clients

Apian automates healthcare deliveries using drones. Their technology allows life saving medicine to be delivered quickly, cheaply and more sustainably. It is a big undertaking, with tens of thousands of sites dispatching medicines and samples in the UK alone. The problem space is complex. The core challenge is optimising drones’ delivery routes, given drone capacity constraints, battery limitations, and weather effects.

Client Case Study

A visualisation of Apian’s drone delivery simulation, created by Green Vertex

Apian's core questions

How many drones would they need?

What is the best control strategy?

How much carbon emission would it save?

How much money would it save?

Enter Green Vertex:

We worked with Apian to understand the challenges they faced. With our experience, it became clear to us which techniques would help solve their problems. We discussed this with them, talking through how a simulation could answer their questions. This led to a project to build a simulation, simulation orchestrator, and visualisation. We took an Agile approach, getting early (and regular) feedback and incorporating it into the solution.

The project continued to iterate, evolving based on our increasing understanding of their problem, and Apian’s increased understanding of what is possible with simulation. While developing the simulation, we taught their staff how to use it as an analytical tool to answer their questions. We also trained their staff in how to alter and extend it, and to use it as an optimisation tool and a test harness. Additionally, we supported their system architecture and recruitment activities.

Testimonial

“We had the pleasure of working with Chris from Green Vertex, and his expertise transformed our understanding of simulation and digital twins. Chris clarified complex concepts, and delivered exceptional results. He created a top-notch simulation, a simulation orchestrator, and a slick visualisation tool that we use for both analysis and marketing. Leveraging his extensive experience, Chris built the sorts of simulation tools for us that other companies have spent years developing with dedicated engineering teams, saving us both time and money.

Beyond his technical contributions, Chris empowered our engineers with simulation skills, allowing them to take ownership of the project going forward. With his guidance, they were able to further enhance the simulation's capabilities. Additionally, Chris supported us in setting up CI and implementing effective cloud architecture.

What truly sets Chris apart is his dedication to our success. He went the extra mile by assisting us in sourcing talented engineers and analysts who could continue building upon his impressive foundation. Chris and Green Vertex have our highest recommendation. Their expertise, professionalism, and commitment to excellence make them an invaluable asset to any project.”

Alexander Trewby, CEO - Apian

Experience at Ocado Technology

Invented and engineered Ocado's swarm robotics based storage and retrieval system ("The Hive"), seeing it through from idea to global roll-out. As well as inventing the processes, this required complex algorithmic optimisation (e.g. multi-vehicle path search).

Developed Ocado’s simulation capabilities. This facilitated assessment of business opportunities for clients, outputting predicted throughput, optimal configurations, optimal warehouse layouts etc. It also facilitated optimization of the production control system, and testing of that system.

Created the robotics department focusing mainly on picking and packing of customer groceries from stock into bags using robot arms, computer vision and machine learning. Grew this department from scratch to over 100 people. We researched, developed and rolled out to production Ocado’s robotic picking system.

Invented Ocado’s “on grid” picking system, which combines robotic picking with the swarm storage and retrieval system.