Fast continuous collision detection for articulated models

We present a novel algorithm to perform continuous collision detection for articulated models. Given two discrete configurations of the links of an articulated model, we use an "arbitrary in-between motion" to interpolate its motion between two successive time steps and check the resulting trajectory for collisions. Our approach uses a three-stage pipeline: (1) dynamic bounding-volume hierarchy (D-BVH) culling based on interval arithmetic; (2) culling refinement using the swept volume of line swept spheres (LSS') and graphics hardware accelerated queries; (3) exact contact computation using OBB trees and continuous collision detection between triangular primitives. The overall algorithm computes the time of collision and contact locations, and prevents any interpenetration between the articulated model and the environment. We have implemented the algorithm and tested its performance on a 2.4 GHz Pentium PC with 1 Gbyte of RAM and a NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800 graphics card. In practice, our algorithm is able to perform accurate and continuous collision detection between articulated models and modestly complex environments at nearly interactive rates.