An A-trimmed skeleton for modeling the global shape of polygons

A skeleton is a global shape descriptor that aims to characterize the general appearance of an object to facilitate object classification. Various ways for defining the skeleton of a polygon have been proposed in the literature. Yet, in some cases, these previously proposed skeletons may not intuitively resemble the original polygons and cannot be a good shape descriptor. This research proposes a new definition of skeletons for modeling polygons. The proposed skeleton is termed the area-trimmed (A-trimmed) skeleton. In modeling the global shape of polygons, the A-trimmed skeleton performs much better than other skeletons proposed in the literature. The A-trimmed skeleton can be applied in group technology and facilitate tasks such as punched-part design and fixture design.