Systems and methods to apply surface treatments

A method, comprising:

• storing surface treatment data to specify at least one selected surface treatment that an application tool, which is carried by a vehicle, is to apply on a surface on which the vehicle is configured to travel, the surface treatment data including a reference frame for the selected surface treatment that is to be applied;
• storing task plan data based on the surface treatment data and at least one parameter of the application tool, the task plan data including instructions describing a process of the application tool applying the selected surface treatment independent of a target location and a pose of the application tool;
• determining a pose of the reference frame with respect to the application tool;
• defining the target location and an orientation of the selected surface treatment on the surface in response to a substantially real-time user input instruction entered through a graphical user interface at runtime for applying the selected surface treatment;
• and
• responsive to the user input instruction:
• computing a joint-space trajectory to enable the application tool to apply the selected surface treatment at the target location with the orientation based on the task plan data, the pose of the reference frame and the pose of the application tool;
• and
• controlling the joint space of the application tool and applying the selected surface treatment at the target location with the orientation based on the computed joint-space trajectory.

A system to apply surface treatments to a surface relative to which a vehicle is adapted to travel, the system comprising:

• an application tool having a joint space, the application tool being carried by the vehicle and including a robot having a dispensing tool adapted to apply a surface treatment to the surface;
• one or more non-transitory machine-readable media to store instructions and data, the data including surface treatment data describing at least one surface treatment to be applied at a target location on the surface, the surface treatment data including a reference frame for the surface treatment;
• a processor configured to execute the instructions to cause the processor to at least:
• store task plan data that includes instructions describing a process of the application tool to apply at least one selected surface treatment independent of the target location and a pose of the application tool;
• determine a pose of the reference frame for the selected surface treatment that is to be applied with respect to the application tool;
• generate a graphical user interface that includes a visualization of the selected surface treatment at the target location, and the visualization includes a graphical representation of the selected surface treatment superimposed on a real-time image of the surface that includes the target location;
• define a target location of the selected surface treatment on the surface in response to a substantially real-time user input instruction entered through the graphical user interface at runtime when applying the selected surface treatment;
• and
• responsive to the user input instruction—
• determine target coordinates of the selected surface treatment with respect to a current pose of the application tool and the reference frame based on the target location of the selected surface treatment;
• implement inverse kinematics to compute a joint-space trajectory to apply the selected surface treatment at the defined target location based on the task plan data, the pose of the application tool, and the target coordinates;
• and
• control the application tool and the dispensing tool to apply the selected surface treatment at the target location based on the computed joint-space trajectory.