Robot planning using unmanned aerial vehicles

A system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

• determining that a current plan for performing a particular task with a robot requires modification;
• in response, generating one or more flight plans for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based on a robotic operating environment comprising the robot;
• obtaining, using the UAV in accordance with the one or more flight plans, a new measurement of the robotic operating environment comprising the robot;
• and
• generating, based at least on a difference between the new measurement of the robotic operating environment and a previous measurement of the robotic operating environment, a modified plan for performing the particular task with the robot.

One or more non-transitory computer storage media encoded with computer program instructions that when executed by a plurality of computers cause the plurality of computers to perform operations comprising:

• determining that a current plan for performing a particular task with a robot requires modification;
• in response, generating one or more flight plans for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based on a robotic operating environment comprising the robot;
• obtaining, using the UAV in accordance with the one or more flight plans, a new measurement of the robotic operating environment comprising the robot;
• and
• generating, based at least on a difference between the new measurement of the robotic operating environment and a previous measurement of the robotic operating environment, a modified plan for performing the particular task with the robot.