Collision detection by four-dimensional intersection testing

Abstract

The collision-detection problem is to decide, given two objects and desired motions, whether the objects will come into collision over a given time span. The solution of this problem is useful, both in robotics and in other problem domains. A method is described for solving collision detection that involves transforming the problem into an intersection-detection problem over space time. The theoretical basis for the solution is given and an efficient implementation described based on describing the objects and motions constructively. The related problems of describing the collision region and detecting collisions when there are more than two moving objects are also described.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>