Linkage Configuration
Created Samstag 27 Juli 2024
Also called a "placement", "confirmation" or "realization" in the literature. "realization" is reserved for a different concept in this book.
A configuration of a linkage is a specification of the locations of all link endpoints (and therefore of the link orientations and joint angles). It respects the lengths and non-self-intersection constraints of the linkage but may penetrate obstacles.
A configuration which avoids all obstacles is said to be free, and one that touches but does not penetrate obstacles is semifree.
Configuration space
The configuration of an n-vertex polygon in 3D can be specified by 3n numbers: n triples of vertex coordinates. The configuration space (or moduli space) is the space of all configurations of a linkage.
In the polygon example, this space is a subset of 3n-dimensional space, ℝ³n.
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