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Foundations of Robotics Seminar, March 30, 2010
Time
and Place | Seminar Abstract
Discrete Mechanics and Variational Integrators
Ben Stephens
Robotics Institute
CMU
NSH 1507
Talk 4:30 pm
This CFR Seminar will present the topic of discrete mechanics and
variational integrators. This very different approach to a common
problem yields very interesting results. Highly accurate and
efficient simulation is achieved through discretization of the
Lagrangian and solution of an approximate calculus of variations
problem using a nonlinear root-finding algorithm. Variational
integrators have several unique properties that they conserve exactly
the energy of the system, handle holonomic constraints with ease and
allow for large timesteps. Several related works on this
state-of-the-art topic will be given and several examples comparing
traditional integrators to this approach will be shown.
The Robotics Institute is part of the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University.