A Plane-Sweep Algorithm for Exact Simulation of a Quasi-Static Mechanical System of Compliantly-Connected Rigid Bodies (Extended Abstract)

Automatic fastening eg, snap fasteners is a central theme in Computer Aided Design, manufacturing and design for assembly. Snap fasteners are non-rigid bodies, and hence predicting the motion of flexible objects during an assembly is of interest as an algorithmic problem. We consider a planar system of rigid bodies that are compliantly connected by torsional springs. A single root body undergoes pure translation, during which k passively rotationally compliant members called pawls can contact with immovable planar obstacles. As the motion proceeds, the pawls deform deflect around the obstacles in response to the kinetic constraints and the frictional contact forces. The pawls can also snap off an obstacle edge towards their zero position this motion is modeled using a pure rotation. The simulation problem is to determine the motion of the pawls as parameterized by the translation distance of the root, and to compute the termination configuration of the system if it reachable.