Fast and robust retrieval of Minkowski sums of rotating convex polyhedra in 3-space
Naama Mayer, Efi Fogel, Dan Halperin · 2010
We present a novel method for fast retrieval of exact Minkowski sums of pairs of convex polytopes in R3, where one of the polytopes frequently rotates. The algorithm is based on pre-computing a so-called criticality map, which records the changes in the underlying graph-structure of the Minkowski sum, while one of the polytopes rotates. We give tight combinatorial bounds on the complexity of the criticality map when the rotating polytope rotates about one, two, or three axes. The criticality map can be rather large already for rotations about one axis, even for summand polytopes with a moderate number of vertices each. We therefore focus on the restricted case of rotations about a single, though arbitrary, axis.