A fast procedure for computing the distance between complex objects in three-dimensional space

Abstract

An algorithm for computing the Euclidean distance between a pair of convex sets in R/sup m/ is described. Extensive numerical experience with a broad family of polytopes in R/sup 3/ shows that the computational cost is approximately linear in the total number of vertices specifying the two polytopes. The algorithm has special features which makes its application in a variety of robotics problems attractive. These features are discussed and an example of collision detection is given.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>