Surface marking robots and obstacles

A surface marking robot comprising:

• a body;
• a print apparatus comprising a plurality of print nozzles mounted on the body;
• a controller of the print apparatus;
• a position detection apparatus to determine a position of the robot based on a guiding system signal;
• and
• a motion control system, to cause the robot to travel along the surface with an intended path,
• wherein the print apparatus is to deposit print material onto the surface as the robot follows the intended path;
• wherein, upon reception by the controller of the print apparatus of a first floor plan digital representation comprising a plurality of floor plan features, and of information identifying at least an obstacle, the controller of the print apparatus is to:
• select a specific floor plan feature of the plurality of floor plan features, the specific floor plan feature being at least partially located out of sight from the guiding system;
• in response to selecting the specific floor plan feature, adapt the first digital representation to generate a second digital representation,
• wherein the specific floor plan feature is either removed or modified in the second digital representation, the modified floor plan feature excluding at least a portion of the specific floor plan feature, the portion being out of sight from the guiding system;
• wherein the controller of the print apparatus calculates an impact parameter, the impact parameter taking into account one or more of the following factors:
• a surface proportion of the specific floor plan feature located in the portion being out of sight;
• a shape of the specific floor plan feature;
• and
• an orientation of the specific floor plan feature;
• wherein the controller of the print apparatus either provides a recommendation to displace the guiding system and iterate printing using the displaced guiding system or provides a recommendation not to iterate printing, in function of the impact parameter.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a controller of a print apparatus of a surface marking robot operated in reference to a guiding system separate from the surface marking robot, the machine-readable storage medium comprising:

• instructions to receive:
• a first digital representation of a floor plan to be printed by the surface marking robot, the first digital representation comprising a plurality of floor plan features;
• guiding system position information;
• and
• floor plan obstacle information identifying at least a first obstacle;
• instructions to identify a specific floor plan feature of the plurality of floor plan features, wherein the first obstacle is at least partially situated between the guiding system and the specific floor plan feature;
• instructions to modify the first digital representation to produce a second digital representation, wherein the specific floor plan feature is either deleted or modified in the second digital representation, the modified floor plan feature excluding at least a portion of the specific floor plan feature, wherein the first obstacle is at least partially situated between the guiding system and the excluded portion;
• instructions to operate the surface marking robot to print the second digital representation instead of the first digital representation;
• and
• instructions to send or display a recommendation to displace the guiding system,
• wherein the specific floor plan feature is partially comprised in a shadow region,
• wherein the specific floor plan feature is modified in the second digital representation, and
• wherein the excluded portion represents more than a specific threshold of a complete marking surface of the specific floor plan feature.