We present a fast algorithm to approximate the swept volume (SV) boundary of arbitrary polygon soup models. Despite the extensive research on calculating the volume swept by an object along a trajectory, the efficient algorithms described have imposed constraints on both the trajectories and geometric models. By proposing a general algorithm that handles flat surfaces as well as volumes and disconnected objects, we allow SV calculation without resorting to preprocessing mesh repair nor deforming offsets. This is of particular interest in the domain of product lifecycle management (PLM), which deals with industrial computer aided design (CAD) models that are malformed more often than not. We incorporate the bounded distance operator used in path planning to efficiently sample the trajectory while controlling the total error. We develop a triangulation scheme that draws on the unique data set created by an advancing front level-set method to tessellate the SV boundary in linear time. We analyze its performance, and demonstrate its effectiveness both theoretically and on real cases taken from PLM.

Probabilistic path planning techniques have proven to be vital for finding and validating solutions for difficult industrial assembly tasks. Nevertheless, the failure of a path planner to find a solution to a task does not suggest how to correct the error. We suggest a methodology to identify possible bottlenecks and present an algorithm to analyze the extent to which the design must be modified in order for the task to complete successfully. We validate our algorithm on two industrial problems involving design errors, and explain how to interpret the results in order to improve the design.

Many collision detection methods exist, each specialized for certain data types under certain constraints. In order to enable rapid development of efficient collision detection procedures, we propose an extensible software architecture that allows for cross-queries between data types, while permitting the time and memory optimizations needed for high-performance. By decomposing collision detection into well-defined algorithmic and data components, we can use the same tree-descent algorithm to execute proximity queries, regardless the data type. We validate our implementation on a path planning problem in which a vision guided humanoid represented by an OBB tree explores a dynamic environment composed of voxel maps.

We present a fast GPU-based algorithm to approximate the swept volume (SV) boundary of arbitrary polygon soup models. Despite the extensive research on calculating the volume swept by an object along a trajectory, the efficient algorithms described have imposed constraints on both the trajectories and geometric models. By proposing a general algorithm that handles flat surfaces as well as volumes and disconnected objects, we allow SV calculation without resorting to pre-processing mesh repair. This is of particular interest in the domain of product lifecycle management (PLM), which deals with industrial computer aided design (CAD) models that are malformed more often than not. We incorporate the bounded distance operator used in path planning to efficiently sample the trajectory while controlling the total error. We develop a triangulation scheme that draws on the unique data set created by an advancing front level-set method to tessellate the SV boundary in linear time. We analyze its performance, and demonstrate its effectiveness both theoretically and on real cases taken from PLM.

Internet-based "online robots" now provide public access to remote locations such as museums and laboratories. The Tele-Actor is a collaborative online teleoperation system for distance learning that allows many students to simultaneously share control of a single mobile resource. Our goal is to preserve the educational advantages of field trips without the drawbacks of group travel. We propose the "spatial dynamic voting" (SDV) interface for multiple operator single robot (MOSR) teleoperation. The SDV collects, displays, and analyzes a sequence of spatial votes from multiple online operators at their Internet browsers. The votes drive the motion of a single mobile robot or human "Tele-Actor". The paper describes Version 3.0 of the system architecture, SDV interface, algorithms for automated goal selection, and metrics for collaboration and leadership. We report results from a July 2001 field test with 56 remote users.