Abstract
We propose an accurate and efficient method for detecting potential collisions among multiple objects with arbitrary motion (translation and rotation) in three-dimensional (3-D) space. The algorithm can be used directly for both convex and concave objects. The method consists of two main stages. In the first, coarse stage, an approximate test is performed to identify interfering objects in the entire workspace using octree representation of object shapes. In the second, fine stage, polyhedral representation of object shapes is used to more accurately identify any object parts that might cause interference and collisions. For this purpose, specific pairs of faces belonging to any of the interfering objects found in the first stage are tested, thus performing detailed computation on a reduced amount of data. Experimental results, which demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed collision detection method with adequate octree are given.
