Tasks

Tasks overview

Learn about the Lattice SDK tasks service

The task model is a data structure for modeling deliberate, sequential actions that an operator can execute on an asset or team of assets.

A taskable agent is a service, asset, group, or human that can accept and perform tasks. For example, you might task a robot to investigate a specific area.

The Tasks API manages the lifecycle and routing of tasks to taskable agents, allowing you to create, update, monitor, and execute tasks. Task Manager manages the distribution and persistence of tasks across Lattice. As agents process tasks, they update the status of tasks. Task Manager maintains the latest status of tasks across the common operating picture.

Task model

A task is composed of the following required components:

description
stringRequired

A description of the task. Use this to provide an overview of the task objective, and the agents assigned to execute the task.

specification
stringRequired

The complete JSON definition, setting the objective and parameters for the task, as a string.

version
stringRequired

The version of the task.

created_by
stringRequired

The record of the integration, or operator, that initiated the task.

last_updated_by
stringRequired

The record of the integration, or operator, that last updated the task.

Task catalog

To let Lattice know your agent can complete specific tasks, add the TaskDefinitions in the entity’s TaskCatalog component:

taskDefinitions.taskSpecificationUrl
string

Sets the URL for the specific task definition that the agent can perform. Must be prefixed with type.googleapis.com/: AVisualId task might involve identifying or tracking visual targets.

Work with your Anduril representative to determine a list of task definitions for your use-case

For example, the following VisualId task might involve identifying or tracking visual targets:

entity.json
1"taskCatalog": {
2    "taskDefinitions": [
3        {
4            "taskSpecificationUrl": "type.googleapis.com/anduril.tasks.v2.VisualId"
5        }
6    ]
7}

Task status

The TaskManager API lets operators and agents track, and update, the lifecycle of tasks. To configure your app to update task status, use the UpdateTaskStatus API method and specify the following components:

status.status
Status

Indicates the lifecycle stage of a task as reported by the agent. The taskStatus component. For more information, see Update a task.

status.task_error
TaskError

Contains any errors that occurred while executing the task.

status.progress
string

Indicates incremental progress on the Task, should be from the tasks /v*/progress folder.

status.result
string

Indicates the result of the task, should be from the tasks /v*/result folder.

status.start_time
Timestamp

Indicates the time when the task started executing.

status.estimate
string

Any estimate for how the Task will progress, should be from tasks/v*/estimates folder.

status.allocation
Allocation

Contains a list of agents actively being utilized to execute a task.

Task lifecycle

Tasks have a well-defined lifecycle: create, update, and delete. In each stage of a task lifecycle, Lattice emits the state change event to the environment, increasing your situational awareness:

1

Create

When a task is first created, Lattice sets the task status to STATUS_SENT. Agents assigned to this task can then listen for, receive, and act on the task.

2

Update

As an agent makes progress towards the overall objective of a task, it updates the status of the task in Lattice, and increments the task status version.

3

Complete

When the agent completes the task, it sets the task status to one of two terminal states: STATUS_DONE_OK if the task was successful, or STATUS_DONE_NOT_OK if the task failed. A task with either of the afformentioned terminal states cannot be updated.

What’s next?