Collision Detection

Collision geometry meshes, collision avoidance and clearance

Collision geometries define the physical space occupied by robots and their environments. To represent robot parts or obstacles in the environment, create collision objects like boxes, cylinders, spheres, or custom meshes. Use checkCollision to determine if different parts of a manipulator arm collide with each other (self-collisions) or with obstacles in the world while executing trajectories. The function also gives obstacle clearance to anticipate and avoid collisions.

Functions

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Rigid Body Trees

`capsuleApproximation`	Approximate collision geometries of rigid body tree with capsules (Since R2022b)
`checkCollision`	Check if robot is in collision (Since R2020b)
`addCollision`	Add collision geometry to rigid body (Since R2020b)
`clearCollision`	Clear all attached collision geometries (Since R2020b)

Collision Objects

`checkCollision`	Check if two geometries are in collision
`collisionBox`	Create box collision geometry
`collisionCapsule`	Capsule primitive collision geometry (Since R2022b)
`collisionCylinder`	Create collision cylinder geometry
`collisionMesh`	Create convex mesh collision geometry
`collisionSphere`	Create sphere collision geometry
`geom2struct`	Convert collision geometry objects to structure array (Since R2024a)
`collisionVHACD`	Decompose mesh into convex collision meshes using V-HACD (Since R2023b)
`showCollisionArray`	Show array of collision objects in figure (Since R2023b)

Blocks

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Collision Geometry

Check Collision	Check if two convex collision geometries are in collision (Since R2025a)
Collision Box	Create box collision geometry (Since R2025a)
Collision Capsule	Create capsule collision geometry (Since R2025a)
Collision Cylinder	Create cylinder collision geometry (Since R2025a)
Collision Mesh	Create convex mesh collision geometry (Since R2025a)
Collision Sphere	Create sphere collision geometry (Since R2025a)

Featured Examples

Check for Manipulator Self Collisions Using Collision Meshes

Check for self-collisions in KUKA® IIWA-14 serial manipulator using collision meshes from the URDF of the robot model.

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Obtain Collision Data for Manipulator Collision Checking

Explore three different ways to obtain a rigid body tree model with collision data for manipulator collision checking.

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Reduce Motion Planning Times Using Capsule Approximation

Use capsule approximation on rigid bodies to speed up motion planning using RRT.

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