Constraint-based collision and contact handling using impulses

In this paper a new method for handling collisions and permanent contacts between rigid bodies is presented. Constraint-based methods for computing contact forces with friction provide a high degree of accuracy. The computation is often transformed into an optimization problem and solved with techniques like linear or quadratic programming. Impulse-based methods compute impulses to prevent colliding bodies from interpenetrating. The determination of these impulses is simple and fast. The impulse-based methods are very efficient but they are less accurate than the constraint-based methods because they resolve only one contact between two colliding bodies at the same time. The presented method uses a constraint-based approach. It can handle multiple contacts between two colliding bodies at the same time. For every collision and contact a non-penetration constraint is defined. These constraints are satisfied by iteratively computing impulses. In the same iteration loop impulses for dynamic and static friction are determined. The new method provides the accuracy of a constraint-based method and is efficient and easy to implement like an impulse-based one.