A Fast Procedure for Computing the Distance Between Complex Objects in Three Space

An efficient and reliable algorithm for computing the Euclidean distance between a pair of convex sets in R m described. Extensive numerical experience with a broad family of polytopes in R s shows that the computational cost is approximately linear in the total number of vertices specifying the two polytopes. The algorithm has special features which make its application in a variety of robotics problems attractive. These are discussed and an example of collision detection is given.