Let $G$ be a graph on $n$ nodes. In this note, we prove that if $G$ is $(r+1)$-vertex connected, $1 \leq r \leq n-2$, then there exists a configuration $p$ in general position in $R^r$ such that the bar framework $(G,p)$ is universally rigid. The proof is constructive and is based on a theorem by Lovasz et al concerning orthogonal representations and connectivity of graphs [12,13].
The minimal infinitesimal rigidity of bar-joint frameworks in the non-Euclidean spaces (R^2, ||.||_q) are characterised in terms of (2,2)-tight graphs. Specifically, a generically placed bar-joint framework (G,p) in the plane is minimally infinitesimally rigid with respect to a non-Euclidean l^q norm if and only if the underlying graph G = (V,E) contains 2|V|-2 edges and every subgraph H=(V(H),E(H)) contains at most 2|V(H)|-2 edges.
In 1992, Hendrickson proved that (d+1)-connectivity and redundant rigidity are necessary conditions for a generic (non-complete) bar-joint framework to be globally rigid in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Jackson and Jordan confirmed in 2005 that these conditions are also sufficient in $\mathbb{R}^2$, giving a combinatorial characterization of graphs whose generic realizations in $\mathbb{R}^2$ are globally rigid. In this paper, we establish analogues of these results for infinite periodic frameworks under fixed lattice representations. Our combinatorial characterization of globally rigid generic periodic fra…
We propose new symmetry-adapted rigidity matrices to analyze the infinitesimal rigidity of arbitrary-dimensional bar-joint frameworks with Abelian point group symmetries. These matrices define new symmetry-adapted rigidity matroids on group-labeled quotient graphs. Using these new tools, we establish combinatorial characterizations of infinitesimally rigid two-dimensional bar-joint frameworks whose joints are positioned as generic as possible subject to the symmetry constraints imposed by a reflection, a half-turn or a three-fold rotation in the plane. For bar-joint frameworks which are generi…
We present necessary and sufficient conditions for the generic rigidity of body-bar frameworks on the three-dimensional fixed torus. These frameworks correspond to infinite periodic body-bar frameworks in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with a fixed periodic lattice.
We prove that the linear matroid that defines generic rigidity of $d$-dimensional body-rod-bar frameworks (i.e., structures consisting of disjoint bodies and rods mutually linked by bars) can be obtained from the union of ${d+1 \choose 2}$ graphic matroids by applying variants of Dilworth truncation $n_r$ times, where $n_r$ denotes the number of rods. This leads to an alternative proof of Tay's combinatorial characterizations of generic rigidity of rod-bar frameworks and that of identified body-hinge frameworks.
We present a new semidefinite Farkas lemma involving a side constraint on the rank. This lemma is then used to present a new proof of a recent characterization, by Connelly and Gortler, of dimensional rigidity of bar frameworks.
A one-to-one correspondence between the infinitesimal motions of bar-joint frameworks in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and those in $\mathbb{S}^d$ is a classical observation by Pogorelov, and further connections among different rigidity models in various different spaces have been extensively studied. In this paper, we shall extend this line of research to include the infinitesimal rigidity of frameworks consisting of points and hyperplanes. This enables us to understand correspondences between point-hyperplane rigidity, classical bar-joint rigidity, and scene analysis. Among other results, we derive a combi…
We consider the problem of characterising the generic rigidity of bar-joint frameworks in $\mathbb{R}^d$ in which each vertex is constrained to lie in a given affine subspace. The special case when $d=2$ was previously solved by I. Streinu and L. Theran in 2010. We will extend their characterisation to the case when $d\geq 3$ and each vertex is constrained to lie in an affine subspace of dimension $t$, when $t=1,2$ and also when $t\geq 3$ and $d\geq t(t-1)$. We then point out that results on body-bar frameworks obtained by N. Katoh and S. Tanigawa in 2013 can be used to characterise when a gra…
The rigidity matrix is a fundamental tool for studying the infinitesimal rigidity properties of Euclidean bar-joint frameworks. In this paper we generalize this tool and introduce a rigidity matrix for bar-joint frameworks in arbitrary finite dimensional real normed vector spaces. Using this new matrix, we derive necessary Maxwell-Laman-type counting conditions for a well-positioned bar-joint framework in a real normed vector space to be infinitesimally rigid. Moreover, we derive symmetry-extended counting conditions for a bar-joint framework with a non-trivial symmetry group to be isostatic (…
A simple graph is $3$-rigid if its generic bar-joint frameworks in $R^3$ are infinitesimally rigid. Necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for the minimal $3$-rigidity of a simple graph which is obtained from the $1$-skeleton of a triangulated torus by the deletion of edges interior to a triangulated disc.
The mathematical theory of rigidity of body-bar and body-hinge frameworks provides a useful tool for analyzing the rigidity and flexibility of many articulated structures appearing in engineering, robotics and biochemistry. In this paper we develop a symmetric extension of this theory which permits a rigidity analysis of body-bar and body-hinge structures with point group symmetries. The infinitesimal rigidity of body-bar frameworks can naturally be formulated in the language of the exterior (or Grassmann) algebra. Using this algebraic formulation, we derive symmetry-adapted rigidity matrices …
Tanigawa (2016) showed that vertex-redundant rigidity of a graph implies its global rigidity in arbitrary dimension. We extend this result to periodic graphs under fixed lattice representations. A periodic graph is vertex-redundantly rigid if the deletion of a single vertex orbit under the periodicity results in a periodically rigid graph. Our proof is similar to the one of Tanigawa, but there are some added difficulties. First, it is not known whether periodic global rigidity is a generic property. This issue is resolved via a slight modification of a recent result of Kaszanitzy, Schulze and …
In "Universal rigidity on the line, point orde" it is shown, answering a question of Jordán and Nguyen, that universal rigidity of a generic bar-joint framework in R^1 depends on more than the ordering of the vertices. The graph G that was used in that paper is a ladder with three rungs. Here we provide a general answer when that ladder with three rungs in the line is universally rigid and when it is not.
A configuration p in r-dimensional Euclidean space is a finite collection of labeled points p^1,p^2,...,p^n in R^r that affinely span R^r. Each configuration p defines a Euclidean distance matrix D_p = (d_ij) = (||p^i-p^j||^2), where ||.|| denotes the Euclidean norm. A fundamental problem in distance geometry is to find out whether or not, a given proper subset of the entries of D_p suffices to uniquely determine the entire matrix D_p. This problem is known as the universal rigidity problem of bar frameworks. In this chapter, we present a unified approach for the universal rigidity of bar fram…
A crystallographic bar-joint framework C is shown to be almost periodically infinitesimally rigid if and only if it is strictly periodically infinitesimally rigid and the rigid unit mode (RUM) spectrum is a singleton. Moreover the almost periodic infinitesimal flexes of C are characterised in terms of a matrix-valued function on the d-torus determined by a full rank translation symmetry group and an associated motif of joints and bars.
A bar-joint framework $(G,p)$ is the combination of a graph $G$ and a map $p$ assigning positions, in some space, to the vertices of $G$. The framework is rigid if every edge-length-preserving continuous motion of the vertices arises from an isometry of the space. We will analyse rigidity when the space is a (non-Euclidean) normed plane and two designated vertices are mapped to the same position. This non-genericity assumption leads us to a count matroid first introduced by Jackson, Kaszanitsky and the third author. We show that independence in this matroid is equivalent to independence as a s…
A theorem of Laman gives a combinatorial characterisation of the graphs that admit a realisation as a minimally rigid generic bar-joint framework in $\bR^2$. A more general theory is developed for frameworks in $\bR^3$ whose vertices are constrained to move on a two-dimensional smooth submanifold $\M$. Furthermore, when $\M$ is a union of concentric spheres, or a union of parallel planes or a union of concentric cylinders, necessary and sufficient combinatorial conditions are obtained for the minimal rigidity of generic frameworks.
We develop a rigidity theory for bar-joint frameworks in Euclidean $d$-space in which specified classes of edges are allowed to change length in a coordinated fashion that requires differences of lengths to be preserved within each class. Rigidity for these coordinated frameworks is a generic property, and we characterize the rigid graphs in terms of redundant rigidity in the standard $d$-dimensional rigidity matroid. We also interpret our main results in terms of matroid unions.
A rigidity theory is developed for the Euclidean and non-Euclidean placements of countably infinite simple graphs in R^d with respect to the classical l^p norms, for d>1 and 1<p<\infty. Generalisations are obtained for the Laman and Henneberg combinatorial characterisations of generic infinitesimal rigidity for finite graphs in the Euclidean plane. Also Tay's multi-graph characterisation of the rigidity of generic finite body-bar frameworks in d-dimensional Euclidean space is generalised to the non-Euclidean l^p norms and to countably infinite graphs. For all dimensions and norms it is shown t…
An introduction and survey is given of some recent work on the infinitesimal dynamics of \textit{crystal frameworks}, that is, of translationally periodic discrete bond-node structures in $\mathbb{R}^d$, for $ d=2,3,...$. We discuss the rigidity matrix, a fundamental object from finite bar-joint framework theory, rigidity operators, matrix-function representations and low energy phonons. These phonons in material crystals, such as quartz and zeolites, are known as rigid unit modes, or RUMs, and are associated with the relative motions of rigid units, such as ~SiO$_4$ tetrahedra in the tetrahed…
A simple graph G=(V,E) is 3-rigid if its generic bar-joint frameworks in R3 are infinitesimally rigid. Block and hole graphs are derived from triangulated spheres by the removal of edges and the addition of minimally rigid subgraphs, known as blocks, in some of the resulting holes. Combinatorial characterisations of minimal $3$-rigidity are obtained for these graphs in the case of a single block and finitely many holes or a single hole and finitely many blocks. These results confirm a conjecture of Whiteley from 1988 and special cases of a stronger conjecture of Finbow-Singh and Whiteley from …
We consider the problem of characterising the generic rigidity of bar-joint frameworks in $\mathbb{R}^d$ in which each vertex is constrained to lie in a given affine subspace. The special case when $d=2$ was previously solved by I. Streinu and L. Theran in 2010 and the case when each vertex is constrained to lie in an affine subspace of dimension $t$, and $d\geq t(t-1)$ was solved by Cruickshank, Guler and the first two authors in 2019. We extend the latter result by showing that the given characterisation holds whenever $d\geq 2t$.
We show that universal rigidity of a generic bar and joint framework (G,p) in the line depends on more than the ordering of the vertices. In particular, we construct examples of one-dimensional generic frameworks with the same graph and ordering of the vertices, such that one is universally rigid and one is not. This answers, in the negative, a question of Jordan and Nguyen.
A rigidity theory is developed for bar-joint frameworks in linear matrix spaces endowed with a unitarily invariant norm. Analogues of Maxwell's counting criteria are obtained and minimally rigid matrix frameworks are shown to belong to the matroidal class of (k,l)-sparse graphs for suitable k and l. A characterisation of infinitesimal rigidity is obtained for product norms and it is shown that K_6 - e (respectively, K_7) is the smallest minimally rigid graph for the class of 2 x 2 symmetric (respectively, hermitian) matrices with the trace norm.
Combinatorial rigidity theory seeks to describe the rigidity or flexibility of bar-joint frameworks in R^d in terms of the structure of the underlying graph G. The goal of this article is to broaden the foundations of combinatorial rigidity theory by replacing G with an arbitrary representable matroid M. The ideas of rigidity independence and parallel independence, as well as Laman's and Recski's combinatorial characterizations of 2-dimensional rigidity for graphs, can naturally be extended to this winder setting. As we explain, many of these fundamental concepts really depend only on the matr…
It is well-known that the property of a bar-and-joint framework `to be infinitesimally rigid' is invariant under projective transformations of Eucliean $d$-space for every $d\geqslant 2$. It is less known that the property of a bar-and-joint framework `to be globally rigid' is not invariant even under affine transformations of the Euclidean plane. In this note, we prove of the latter statement for Euclidean $d$-space for every $d\geqslant 2$.
When all non-edge distances of a graph realized in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$ as a {\em bar-and-joint framework} are generically {\em implied} by the bar (edge) lengths, the graph is said to be {\em rigid} in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$. For $d=3$, characterizing rigid graphs, determining implied non-edges and {\em dependent} edge sets remains an elusive, long-standing open problem. One obstacle is to determine when implied non-edges can exist without non-trivial rigid induced subgraphs, i.e., {\em nucleations}, and how to deal with them. In this paper, we give general inductive construction schemes and proof tech…
A bar framework determined by a finite graph $G$ and configuration $\bf p$ in $d$ space is universally rigid if it is rigid in any ${\mathbb R}^D \supset {\mathbb R}^d$. We provide a characterization of universally rigidity for any graph $G$ and any configuration ${\bf p}$ in terms of a sequence of affine subsets of the space of configurations. This corresponds to a facial reduction process for closed finite dimensional convex cones.
These pages serve two purposes. First, they are notes to accompany the talk "Hyperbolic and projective geometry in constraint programming for CAD" by Walter Whiteley at the "Janos Bolyai Conference on Hyperbolic Geometry", 8--12 July 2002, in Budapest, Hungary. Second, they sketch results that will be included in a forthcoming paper that will present the equivalence of the first-order rigidity theories of bar-and-joint frameworks in various geometries, including Euclidean, hyperbolic and spherical geometry. The bulk of the theory is outlined here, with remarks and comments alluding to other re…
Symmetry equations are obtained for the rigidity matrix of a bar-joint framework in R^d. These form the basis for a short proof of the Fowler-Guest symmetry group generalisation of the Calladine-Maxwell counting rules. Similar symmetry equations are obtained for the Jacobian of diverse framework systems, including constrained point-line systems that appear in CAD, body-pin frameworks, hybrid systems of distance constrained objects and infinite bar-joint frameworks. This leads to generalised forms of the Fowler-Guest character formula together with counting rules in terms of counts of symmetry-…
A bar framework (G,p) in dimension r is a graph G whose vertices are points p^1,...,p^n in R^r and whose edges are line segments between pairs of these points. Two frameworks (G,p) and (G,q) are equivalent if each edge of (G,p) has the same (Euclidean) length as the corresponding edge of (G,q). A pair of non-adjacent vertices i and j of (G,p)is universally linked if ||p^i-p^j||=||q^i-q^j|| in every framework (G,q) that is equivalent to (G,p). Framework (G,p) is universally rigid iff every pair of non-adjacent vertices of (G,p) is universally linked. In this paper, we present a unified treatmen…
We use a new coloured multi-graph constructive method to prove that every 2-tree decomposition can be realised in the plane as a bar-joint framework which is minimally rigid (isostatic) with respect to $\ell^1$ or $\ell^\infty$ distance constraints. We show how to adapt this technique to incorporate symmetry and indicate several related open problems on rigidity, redundant rigidity and forced symmetric rigidity in normed spaces.
Recently, Alfakih and Ye [Lin. Algebra Appl. 438:31--36, 2013] proved that if an $r$-dimensional bar framework $(G,p)$ on $n \geq r+2$ nodes in general position in $\R^r$ admits a positive semidefinite stress matrix with rank $n-r-1$, then $(G,p)$ is universally rigid. In this paper, we generalize this result in two directions. First, we extend this result to tensegrity frameworks. Second, we replace the general position assumption by the weaker assumption that in configuration $p$, each point and its neighbors in $G$ affinely span $\R^r$.
Let (G,P) be a bar framework of n vertices in general position in R^d, d <= n-1, where G is a (d+1)-lateration graph. In this paper, we present a constructive proof that (G,P) admits a positive semi-definite stress matrix with rank n-d-1. We also prove a similar result for a sensor network where the graph consists of m(>= d+1) anchors.