A Ray Intersection Algorithm for Fast Growth Distance Computation Between Convex Sets

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Thirugnanam, Akshay, Sreenath, Koushil
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Thirugnanam, Akshay
Sreenath, Koushil
author_facet Thirugnanam, Akshay
Sreenath, Koushil
contents In this paper, we discuss an efficient algorithm for computing the growth distance between two compact convex sets with representable support functions. The growth distance between two sets is the minimum scaling factor such that the sets intersect when scaled about some center points. Unlike the minimum distance between sets, the growth distance provides a unified measure for set intersection and separation. We first reduce the growth distance problem to an equivalent ray intersection problem on the Minkowski difference set. Then, we propose an algorithm to solve the ray intersection problem by iteratively constructing inner and outer polyhedral approximations of the Minkowski difference set. We show that our algorithm satisfies several key properties, such as primal and dual feasibility and monotone convergence. We provide extensive benchmark results for our algorithm and show that our open-source implementation achieves state-of-the-art performance across a wide variety of convex sets. Finally, we demonstrate robotics applications of our algorithm in motion planning and rigid-body simulation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_10058
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Ray Intersection Algorithm for Fast Growth Distance Computation Between Convex Sets
Thirugnanam, Akshay
Sreenath, Koushil
Robotics
Computational Geometry
68U05, 52A20, 90C90
I.2.9; I.3.5; G.1.6
In this paper, we discuss an efficient algorithm for computing the growth distance between two compact convex sets with representable support functions. The growth distance between two sets is the minimum scaling factor such that the sets intersect when scaled about some center points. Unlike the minimum distance between sets, the growth distance provides a unified measure for set intersection and separation. We first reduce the growth distance problem to an equivalent ray intersection problem on the Minkowski difference set. Then, we propose an algorithm to solve the ray intersection problem by iteratively constructing inner and outer polyhedral approximations of the Minkowski difference set. We show that our algorithm satisfies several key properties, such as primal and dual feasibility and monotone convergence. We provide extensive benchmark results for our algorithm and show that our open-source implementation achieves state-of-the-art performance across a wide variety of convex sets. Finally, we demonstrate robotics applications of our algorithm in motion planning and rigid-body simulation.
title A Ray Intersection Algorithm for Fast Growth Distance Computation Between Convex Sets
topic Robotics
Computational Geometry
68U05, 52A20, 90C90
I.2.9; I.3.5; G.1.6
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.10058