ABSTRACT
A digital human must avoid the collision of the body segments with other nonadjacent body segments as well as with the objects in the environment while performing a task. In this research, we develop mathematical models for constraints that can avoid these collisions. The digital human body segments and the obstacles in the environment are modeled using surrogate geometries. The body segments are represented by using one or more spheres rigidly attached to a local reference frame so that these spheres move as the body segments move. The objects in the environment are modeled using one or more of the five primitive geometries: spheres, infinite cylinders, infinite planes, finite cylinders, and finite planes. A generic collision avoidance strategy is developed to avoid spheres with all the five primitive geometries used for representing obstacles.
