Hough transform for distance computation and collision avoidance

Abstract

A new technique for collision detection based on the application of the Hough transform is presented in this paper. As a consequence of applying this technique, a method for computing the minimum translational distance (MTD) between two spherically extended polytopes is introduced. This distance algorithm is based on the Gilbert-Johnson-Keerthi (GJK) algorithm. Parameters returned by the MTD algorithm hold collision-free configurations that avoid a predicted collision.