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We investigate the problem of computing a minimum-volume container for the non-overlapping packing of a given set of three-dimensional convex objects. Already the simplest versions of the problem are NP-hard so that we cannot expect to find exact polynomial time algorithms. We give constant ratio approximation algorithms for packing axis-parallel (rectangular) cuboids under translation into an axis-parallel (rectangular) cuboid as container, for packing cuboids under rigid motions into an axis-parallel cuboid or into an arbitrary convex container, and for packing convex polyhedra under rigid motions into an axis-parallel cuboid or arbitrary convex container. This work gives the first approximability results for the computation of minimum volume containers for the objects described.
@InProceedings{alt_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2016.11,
author = {Alt, Helmut and Scharf, Nadja},
title = {{Approximating Smallest Containers for Packing Three-Dimensional Convex Objects}},
booktitle = {27th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2016)},
pages = {11:1--11:14},
series = {Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-026-2},
ISSN = {1868-8969},
year = {2016},
volume = {64},
editor = {Hong, Seok-Hee},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2016.11},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-67801},
doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2016.11},
annote = {Keywords: computational geometry, packing, approximation algorithm}
}