We prove that universal second-order rigidity implies universal prestress stability and that triangulated convex polytopes in 3-space (with holes appropriately positioned) are prestress stable.

We study the impact of metric constraints on the realizability of planar graphs. Let G be a subgraph of a planar graph H (where H is the "host" of G). The graph G is free in H if for every choice of positive lengths for the edges of G, the host H has a planar straight-line embedding that realizes these lengths; and G is extrinsically free in H if all constraints on the edge lengths of G depend on G only, irrespective of additional edges of the host H.

We extend linkage unfolding results from the well-studied case of polygonal linkages to the more general case of linkages of polygons. More precisely, we consider chains of nonoverlapping rigid planar shapes (Jordan regions) that are hinged together sequentially at rotatable joints. Our goal is to characterize the familes of planar shapes that admit locked chains, where some configurations cannot be reached by continuous reconfiguration without self-intersection, and which families of planar shapes guarantee universal foldability, where every chain is guaranteed to have a connected configuration space. Previously, only obtuse triangles were known to admit locked shapes, and only line segments were known to guarantee universal foldability. We show that a surprisingly general family of planar shapes, called slender adornments, guarantees universal foldability: roughly, the inward normal from any point on the shape's boundary should intersect the line segment connecting the two incident hinges. In constrast, we show that isosceles triangles with any desired apex angle <90° admit locked chains, which is precisely the threshold beyond which the inward-normal property no longer holds.

Consider a planar linkage, consisting of disjoint polygonal arcs and cycles of rigid bars joined at incident endpoints (polygonal chains), with the property that no cycle surrounds another arc or cycle. We prove that the linkage can be continuously moved so that the arcs become straight, the cycles become convex, and no bars cross while preserving the bar lengths. Furthermore, our motion is piecewise-differentiable, does not decrease the distance between any pair of vertices, and preserves any symmetry present in the initial configuration. In particular this result settles the well-studied carpenter's rule conjecture.

This paper defines two concepts of rigidity for tensegrity frameworks (frameworks with cables, bars, and struts): prestress stability and second-order rigidity. We demonstrate a hierarchy of rigidity—first-order rigidity implies prestress stability implies second-order rigidity implies rigidity—for any framework. Examples show that none of these implications are reversible, even for bar frameworks. Other examples illustrate how these results can be used to create rigid tensegrity frameworks. This paper also develops a duality for second-order rigidity, leading to a test which combines information on the self stresses and the first-order flexes of a framework to detect second-order rigidity. Using this test, the following conjecture of Roth is proven: a plane tensegrity framework, in which the vertices and bars form a strictly convex polygon with additional cables across the interior, is rigid if and only if it is first-order rigid.

We study the class of problems associated with the detection and computation of monotone paths among a set of disjoint obstacles. We give an Ο(nE) algorithm for finding a monotone path (if one exists) between two points in the plane in the presence of polygonal obstacles. (Here, E is the size of the visibility graph defined by the n vertices of the obstacles.) If all of the obstacles are convex, we prove that there always exists a monotone path between any two points s and t. We give an Ο(n log n) algorithm for finding such a path for any s and t, after an initial Ο(E + n log n) preprocesing. We introduce the notions of “monotone path map”, and “shortest monotone path map” and give algorithms to compute them. We apply our results to a class of separation and assembly problems, yielding polynomial-time algorithms for planning an assembly sequence (based on separations by single translations) of arbitrary polygonal parts in two dimensions.