Related papers: Locked and Unlocked Polygonal Chains in 3D
We consider the problem of deciding whether a polygonal knot in 3-dimensional Euclidean space is unknotted, capable of being continuously deformed without self-intersection so that it lies in a plane. We show that this problem, {\sc…
A straight-line drawing of a graph is a monotone drawing if for each pair of vertices there is a path which is monotonically increasing in some direction, and it is called a strongly monotone drawing if the direction of monotonicity is…
We define a plane curve to be threadable if it can rigidly pass through a point-hole in a line L without otherwise touching L. Threadable curves are in a sense generalizations of monotone curves. We have two main results. The first is a…
Closed kinematic chains are created whenever multiple robot arms concurrently manipulate a single object. The closed-chain constraint, when coupled with robot joint limits, dramatically changes the connectivity of the configuration space.…
This paper studies the straight skeleton of polyhedra in three dimensions. We first address voxel-based polyhedra (polycubes), formed as the union of a collection of cubical (axis-aligned) voxels. We analyze the ways in which the skeleton…
A linkage mechanism consists of rigid bodies assembled by joints which can be used to translate and transfer motion from one form in one place to another. In this paper, we are particularly interested in a family of spacial linkage…
In the first part of this work the classical and statistical aspects of the dynamics of an inextensible chain in three dimensions are investigated. In the second part the special case of a chain admitting only fixed angles with respect to…
An n-gon is defined as a sequence \P=(V_0,...,V_{n-1}) of n points on the plane. An n-gon \P is said to be convex if the boundary of the convex hull of the set {V_0,...,V_{n-1}} of the vertices of \P coincides with the union of the edges…
We present two algorithms for unfolding the surface of any polyhedron, all of whose faces are triangles, to a nonoverlapping, connected planar layout. The surface is cut only along polyhedron edges. The layout is connected, but it may have…
We prove that two polygons $A$ and $B$ have a reversible hinged dissection (a chain hinged dissection that reverses inside and outside boundaries when folding between $A$ and $B$) if and only if $A$ and $B$ are two noncrossing nets of a…
Model transformations operate on models conforming to precisely defined metamodels. Consequently, it often seems relatively easy to chain them: the output of a transformation may be given as input to a second one if metamodels match.…
We prove that any finite polyhedral manifold in 3D can be continuously flattened into 2D while preserving intrinsic distances and avoiding crossings, answering a 19-year-old open problem, if we extend standard folding models to allow for…
We introduce the abstract notion of a chain, which is a sequence of $n$ points in the plane, ordered by $x$-coordinates, so that the edge between any two consecutive points is unavoidable as far as triangulations are concerned. A general…
We show that 4-connected plane triangulations can be redrawn such that edges are represented by straight segments and the vertices are covered by a set of at most $\sqrt{2n}$ lines each of them horizontal or vertical. The same holds for all…
We prove two results about transforming any convex polyhedron, modeled as a linkage L of its edges. First, if we subdivide each edge of L in half, then L can be continuously flattened into a plane. Second, if L is equilateral and we again…
This paper presents a selected tour through the theory and applications of lifts of convex sets. A lift of a convex set is a higher-dimensional convex set that projects onto the original set. Many convex sets have lifts that are…
In this manuscript we introduce a method to measure entanglement of curves in 3-space that extends the notion of knot and link polynomials to open curves. We define the bracket polynomial of curves in 3-space and show that it has real…
A closed curve in the plane is weakly simple if it is the limit (in the Fr\'echet metric) of a sequence of simple closed curves. We describe an algorithm to determine whether a closed walk of length n in a simple plane graph is weakly…
Given a knot or link in the form of plat closure of a braid, we describe an algorithm to obtain a braid representing the same knot or link with the standard closure, and vice-versa. We analyze the three cases of knots and links: in…
We study algorithmic aspects of bending wires and sheet metal into a specified structure. Problems of this type are closely related to the question of deciding whether a simple non-self-intersecting wire structure (a carpenter's ruler) can…