Collision Detection: Applications and Techniques

Collision Detection or interference detection has been studied extensively in robotics, computer graphics, physically-based modeling, molecular modeling, visualization and virtual environment. Predominantly, the input to a collision detection algorithm comprises large and complex geometric object either as static or dynamic object within the environment. The term collision detection refers to a task of determining whether two or more objects intersect. In order to represent the geometric interaction in a dynamical system with the utmost efficiency or to simulate realistic physical behaviour of entities in the virtual environment, it is vital to perform the collision detection event with fast and minimal computation, yet with high precision. In this paper we will present an overview of various collision detection applications and also describe several methods or techniques that had been used by various authors.