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Analysis of institutional authors

Gomez, VCorresponding AuthorHernando, MAuthorRossi, CAuthor

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April 11, 2024
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Bioinspired Whisker Sensor for 3D Mapping of Underground Mining Environments

Publicated to:Biomimetics (Basel). 9 (2): 83- - 2024-02-01 9(2), DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics9020083

Authors: Gomez, Virgilio; Remmas, Walid; Hernando, Miguel; Ristolainen, Asko; Rossi, Claudio

Affiliations

Tallinn Univ Technol, Ctr Biorobot, Sch Informat Technol, Dept Comp Syst - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Ctr Automat & Robot, CSIC - Author

Abstract

Traversing through challenging, unstructured environments, particularly in mining scenarios characterized by dust concentration, darkness, and lack of communication presents formidable obstacles for traditional sensing technologies. Drawing inspiration from naked mole rats, characterized as being skilled subterranean navigators that depend heavily on touch to navigate their environment, this study introduces a new whisker-sensing disk designed for 3D mapping in unstructured environments. The disk comprises a circular array of 32 whisker sensors, each featuring a slender flexible plastic rod attached to a compliant base housing a 3D Hall-effect sensor. The whisker sensor is modeled using both analytical and data-driven approaches to predict rotation angles based on magnetic field measurements. The validation and comparison of both models are performed by evaluating data from other whisker sensors. Additionally, a series of experiments demonstrates the whisker disk's capability in performing 3D-mapping tasks, along with successful implementation on diverse robotic platforms, highlighting its future potential for effective 3D mapping in complex and unstructured subterranean environments.

Keywords

3d mappingBioinspired designWhisker sensor

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Biomimetics (Basel) due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position 31/175, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Engineering, Multidisciplinary.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-07-26:

  • WoS: 3
  • Scopus: 3

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-26:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 3.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 4 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 6.05.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 8 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Estonia.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (GOMEZ LAMBO, VIRGILIO AUGUSTO) and Last Author (ROSSI, CLAUDIO).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been GOMEZ LAMBO, VIRGILIO AUGUSTO.