Location tracking and motion control of automated marking device

A system comprising:

• a target object having a surface;
• a holonomic-motion crawler vehicle in contact with said surface and located at an initial location relative to a frame of reference of the target object;
• an actuation system for causing said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle to move relative to the frame of reference of the target object;
• a marking device supported by said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle;
• an actuator for causing said marking device to move relative to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle between a retracted state wherein a part of said marking device is not in contact with said surface and an extended state wherein said part of said marking device is in contact with said surface;
• a location tracking system programmed to be capable of determining a current location of said part of said marking device relative to the frame of reference of the target object when said part of said marking device is in contact with said surface;
• and
• a motion controller programmed to be capable of controlling motion of said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle relative to said surface and controlling motion of said marking device relative to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle, the motion of said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle relative to said surface being a function of a difference between said current location of said part of said marking device as determined by said location tracking system and a target location of said part of said marking device.

A method of marking locations on a surface, comprising:

• moving a holonomic-motion platform over a surface area along a programmed motion path by causing omni wheels of the holonomic-motion platform to rotate;
• scanning the surface area using a scan probe mounted to the platform as the holonomic-motion platform is moved along the programmed motion path to acquire scan data, wherein said scan data comprises subsurface feature data;
• correlating model feature data with said subsurface feature data;
• selecting a target location on the surface area to be marked based on results of said correlating step;
• moving the holonomic-motion platform over the surface area to a location whereat a part of a retracted marking device carried by the holonomic-motion platform would overlie said target location if the marking device were extended;
• and
• extending the marking device so that the part of the marking device contacts the surface or a patch overlying the surface.

A method for marking a surface on a target object using a computer-controlled holonomic-motion crawler vehicle that moves on a plurality of omni wheels and carries a marking device and a non-destructive scan probe, said method comprising:

• causing the omni wheels of the holonomic-motion crawler vehicle to rotate so that the non-destructive scan probe scans an area of the surface to acquire a scan image of that scanned surface area;
• selecting a feature having a target location within the scanned surface area;
• causing the omni wheels of the holonomic-motion crawler vehicle to rotate until a part of the marking device overlies the target location;
• and
• actuating the marking device so that the part marks the target location.