Interactive simulation of local interactions in dense crowds using elliptical agents

Authored by Sahil Narang, Andrew Best, Dinesh Manocha

Date Published: 2017

DOI: 10.1088/1742-5468/aa58ab

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Pseudocode Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

We present a practical approach for interactive crowd simulation based on elliptical agents. Our formulation uses a biomechanically accurate pedestrian representation to simulate different local interactions, including backpedaling, side-stepping, and shoulder-twisting. We present an efficient algorithm for local navigation and collision avoidance among multiple elliptical agents using velocity obstacles. Furthermore, we describe techniques to link the orientation of each elliptical agent to its velocity to automatically generate turning and lateral movements. In practice, our approach can simulate dense crowds of hundreds of pedestrians at interactive rates on a single CPU core. We highlight the performance in complex scenarios and validate our simulation results by comparing with real-world crowd videos and experiments.

Tags

Agent-based models Model Pedestrian dynamics Environments Avoidance Traffic and crowd dynamics