Fast dynamic simulation of rigid and deformable objects

This paper presents a complete dynamic modeling system, called Robot/spl Phi/. This system allows us to create a physical model of an object and to simulate its motion, its deformations, and its interaction with the environment and with other objects. This system takes into account three types of interactions: the collision, the static and dynamic friction, and the viscosity of the environment. An hierarchical representation of objects allows us to have a linear complexity when calculating the contact between objects. An adaptative time step allows the system to avoid numerical divergence, to optimise the computational time, and to control the incurred error.