Accessibility analysis using computer graphics hardware

Analyzing the accessibility of an object's surface to probes or tools is important for many planning and programming tasks that involve spatial reasoning and arise in robotics and automation. This paper presents novel and efficient algorithms for computing accessible directions for tactile probes used in 3D digitization with Coordinate Measuring Machines. The algorithms are executed in standard computer graphics hardware. They are a nonobvious application of rendering hardware to scientific and technological areas beyond computer graphics.