Extremal Configurations of Hinge Structures
Differential Geometry
2008-12-09 v1
Abstract
We study body-and-hinge and panel-and-hinge chains in R^d, with two marked points: one on the first body, the other on the last. For a general chain, the squared distance between the marked points gives a Morse-Bott function on a torus configuration space. Maximal configurations, when the distance between the two marked points reaches a global maximum, have particularly simple geometrical characterizations. The three-dimensional case is relevant for applications to robotics and molecular structures.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0812.1375,
title = {Extremal Configurations of Hinge Structures},
author = {Ciprian S. Borcea and Ileana Streinu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0812.1375},
year = {2008}
}