We wish to decide whether a simply connected flexible polygonal structure can be realized in Euclidean space. Two models are considered: polygonal linkages (body-and-joint framework) and contact graphs of unit disks in the plane.(1) We show that it is strongly NP-hard to decide whether a given polygonal linkage is realizable in the plane when the bodies are convex polygons and their contact graph is a tree; the problem is weakly NP-hard already for a chain of rectangles, but efficiently decidable for a chain of triangles hinged at distinct vertices. (2) We also show that it is strongly NP-hard to decide whether a given tree is the contact graph of interior-disjoint unit disks in the plane. P and the hinges in H, and edges represent the polygon-hinge incidences.
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