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Analysis of institutional authors

Cornejo, JoseCorresponding AuthorCena, Cecilia E GarciaAuthorBaca, JoseAuthor

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December 10, 2024
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Animal-Morphing Bio-Inspired Mechatronic Systems: Research Framework in Robot Design to Enhance Interplanetary Exploration on the Moon

Publicated to: Biomimetics (Basel). 9 (11): 693- - 2024-11-01 9(11), DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics9110693

Authors:

Cornejo, Jose; Cena, Cecilia E Garcia; Baca, Jose
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Affiliations

Texas A&M Univ, Coll Engn & Comp Sci, Dept Engn, Corpus Christi, TX 78414 USA - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Escuela Tecn Super Ingn & Diseno Ind, Ronda Valencia 3, Madrid 28012, Spain - Author
UPM, Ctr Automat & Robot, CSIC, Ronda Valencia 3, Madrid 28012, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Over the past 50 years, the space race has potentially grown due to the development of sophisticated mechatronic systems. One of the most important is the bio-inspired mobile-planetary robots, actually for which there is no reported one that currently works physically on the Moon. Nonetheless, significant progress has been made to design biomimetic systems based on animal morphology adapted to sand (granular material) to test them in analog planetary environments, such as regolith simulants. Biomimetics and bio-inspired attributes contribute significantly to advancements across various industries by incorporating features from biological organisms, including autonomy, intelligence, adaptability, energy efficiency, self-repair, robustness, lightweight construction, and digging capabilities-all crucial for space systems. This study includes a scoping review, as of July 2024, focused on the design of animal-inspired robotic hardware for planetary exploration, supported by a bibliometric analysis of 482 papers indexed in Scopus. It also involves the classification and comparison of limbed and limbless animal-inspired robotic systems adapted for movement in soil and sand (locomotion methods such as grabbing-pushing, wriggling, undulating, and rolling) where the most published robots are inspired by worms, moles, snakes, lizards, crabs, and spiders. As a result of this research, this work presents a pioneering methodology for designing bio-inspired robots, justifying the application of biological morphologies for subsurface or surface lunar exploration. By highlighting the technical features of actuators, sensors, and mechanisms, this approach demonstrates the potential for advancing space robotics, by designing biomechatronic systems that mimic animal characteristics.
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Keywords

Aerospace roboticsBio-inspired systemsChallengesFuturIsruLocomotionModular reconfigurable robotsMooMoonSpace explorationSpace roboticsStrategy

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 31/179, 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 2026-04-27:

  • WoS: 4
  • Scopus: 9
  • Europe PMC: 2
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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 2026-04-27:

  • 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: 11.
  • 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: 10 (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: 2.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (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.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/89012/
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United States of America.

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 (CORNEJO AGUILAR, JOSÉ LUIS) and Last Author (BACA GARCIA, JOSE ANTONIO).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been CORNEJO AGUILAR, JOSÉ LUIS.

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Awards linked to the item

This article is supported by the R&D Project with ID Ref. PID2023-147965NB-I00 with financial support from the Spanish Government, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.
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