Controlled Perturbation for Arrangements of Polyhedral Surfaces with Application to Swept Volumes

We describe a perturbation scheme to overcome degeneracies and precision problems for algorithms that manipulate polyhedral surfaces using floating point arithmetic. The perturbation algorithm is simple, easy to program and completely removes all degeneracies. We describe a software package that implements it, and report experimental results. The perturbation requires O(n log³ n+nDK²) expected time and O(n log n+nK²) working storage, and has O(n) output size, where n is the total number of facets in the surfaces, K is a small constant in the input instances that we have examined, D is a constant greater than K but still small in most inputs, and both might be as large as n in `pathological' inputs. A tradeoff exists between the magnitude of the perturbation and the efficiency of the computation. Our perturbation package can be used by any application that manipulates polyhedral surfaces and needs robust input, such as solid modeling, manufacturing and robotics. We describe an ..

Exact polynomial system solving for robust geometric computation

I describe an exact method for computing roots of a system of multivariate polynomials with rational coefficients, called the rational univariate reduction. This method enables performance of exact algebraic computation of coordinates of the roots of polynomials. In computational geometry, curves, surfaces and points are described as polynomials and their intersections. Thus, exact computation of the roots of polynomials allows the development and implementation of robust geometric algorithms. I describe applications in robust geometric modeling. In particular, I show a new method, called numerical perturbation scheme, that can be used successfully to detect and handle degenerate configurations appearing in boundary evaluation problems. I develop a derandomized version of the algorithm for computing the rational univariate reduction for a square system of multivariate polynomials and a new algorithm for a non-square system. I show how to perform exact computation over algebraic points obtained by the rational univariate reduction. I give a formal description of numerical perturbation scheme and its implementation

Efficient motion planning using generalized penetration depth computation

Motion planning is a fundamental problem in robotics and also arises in other applications including virtual prototyping, navigation, animation and computational structural biology. It has been extensively studied for more than three decades, though most practical algorithms are based on randomized sampling. In this dissertation, we address two main issues that arise with respect to these algorithms: (1) there are no good practical approaches to check for path non-existence even for low degree-of-freedom (DOF) robots; (2) the performance of sampling-based planners can degrade if the free space of a robot has narrow passages. In order to develop effective algorithms to deal with these problems, we use the concept of penetration depth (PD) computation. By quantifying the extent of the intersection between overlapping models (e.g. a robot and an obstacle), PD can provide a distance measure for the configuration space obstacle (C-obstacle). We extend the prior notion of translational PD to generalized PD, which takes into account translational as well as rotational motion to separate two overlapping models. Moreover, we formulate generalized PD computation based on appropriate model-dependent metrics and present two algorithms based on convex decomposition and local optimization. We highlight the efficiency and robustness of our PD algorithms on many complex 3D models. Based on generalized PD computation, we present the first set of practical algorithms for low DOF complete motion planning. Moreover, we use generalized PD computation to develop a retraction-based planner to effectively generate samples in narrow passages for rigid robots. The effectiveness of the resulting planner is shown by alpha puzzle benchmark and part disassembly benchmarks in virtual prototyping

Geometric algorithms for algebraic curves and surfaces

This work presents novel geometric algorithms dealing with algebraic curves and surfaces of arbitrary degree. These algorithms are exact and complete — they return the mathematically true result for all input instances. Efficiency is achieved by cutting back expensive symbolic computation and favoring combinatorial and adaptive numerical methods instead, without spoiling exactness in the overall result. We present an algorithm for computing planar arrangements induced by real algebraic curves. We show its efficiency both in theory by a complexity analysis, as well as in practice by experimental comparison with related methods. For the latter, our solution has been implemented in the context of the Cgal library. The results show that it constitutes the best current exact implementation available for arrangements as well as for the related problem of computing the topology of one algebraic curve. The algorithm is also applied to related problems, such as arrangements of rotated curves, and arrangments embedded on a parameterized surface. In R3, we propose a new method to compute an isotopic triangulation of an algebraic surface. This triangulation is based on a stratification of the surface, which reveals topological and geometric information. Our implementation is the first for this problem that makes consequent use of numerical methods, and still yields the exact topology of the surface.Diese Arbeit stellt neue Algorithmen für algebraische Kurven und Flächen von beliebigem Grad vor. Diese Algorithmen liefern für alle Eingaben das mathematisch korrekte Ergebnis. Wir erreichen Effizienz, indem wir aufwendige symbolische Berechnungen weitesgehend vermeiden, und stattdessen kombinatorische und adaptive numerische Methoden einsetzen, ohne die Exaktheit des Resultats zu zerstören. Der Hauptbeitrag ist ein Algorithmus zur Berechnung von planaren Arrangements, die durch reelle algebraische Kurven induziert sind. Wir weisen die Effizienz des Verfahrens sowohl theoretisch durch eine Komplexitätsanalyse, als auch praktisch durch experimentelle Vergleiche nach. Dazu haben wir unser Verfahren im Rahmen der Softwarebibliothek Cgal implementiert. Die Resultate belegen, dass wir die zur Zeit beste verfügbare exakte Software bereitstellen. Der Algorithmus wird zur Arrangementberechnung rotierter Kurven, oder für Arrangements auf parametrisierten Oberflächen eingesetzt. Im R3 geben wir ein neues Verfahren zur Berechnung einer isotopen Triangulierung einer algebraischen Oberfläche an. Diese Triangulierung basiert auf einer Stratifizierung der Oberfläche, die topologische und geometrische Informationen berechnet. Unsere Implementierung ist die erste für dieses Problem, welche numerische Methoden konsequent einsetzt, und dennoch die exakte Topologie der Oberfläche liefert