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Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Guffanti, DCorresponding AuthorBrunete, AAuthorHernando, MAuthorRueda, JAuthorNavarro, EAuthor

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November 22, 2021
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Article

ROBOGait: A Mobile Robotic Platform for Human Gait Analysis in Clinical Environments

Publicated to: SENSORS. 21 (20): 6786- - 2021-10-01 21(20), DOI: 10.3390/s21206786

Authors:

Guffanti, Diego; Brunete, Alberto; Hernando, Miguel; Rueda, Javier; Navarro, Enrique
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Affiliations

Univ Politecn Madrid, Ctr Automat & Robot CAR UPM CSIC, Madrid 28012, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Fac Sports Sci, Dept Human Hlth & Performance, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
Univ Tecnol Equinoccial UTE, Santo Domingo 230208, Ecuador - Author
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Abstract

Mobile robotic platforms have made inroads in the rehabilitation area as gait assistance devices. They have rarely been used for human gait monitoring and analysis. The integration of mobile robots in this field offers the potential to develop multiple medical applications and achieve new discoveries. This study proposes the use of a mobile robotic platform based on depth cameras to perform the analysis of human gait in practical scenarios. The aim is to prove the validity of this robot and its applicability in clinical settings. The mechanical and software design of the system is presented, as well as the design of the controllers of the lane-keeping, person-following, and servoing systems. The accuracy of the system for the evaluation of joint kinematics and the main gait descriptors was validated by comparison with a Vicon-certified system. Some tests were performed in practical scenarios, where the effectiveness of the lane-keeping algorithm was evaluated. Clinical tests with patients with multiple sclerosis gave an initial impression of the applicability of the instrument in patients with abnormal walking patterns. The results demonstrate that the system can perform gait analysis with high accuracy. In the curved sections of the paths, the knee joint is affected by occlusion and the deviation of the person in the camera reference system. This issue was greatly improved by adjusting the servoing system and the following distance. The control strategy of this robot was specifically designed for the analysis of human gait from the frontal part of the participant, which allows one to capture the gait properly and represents one of the major contributions of this study in clinical practice.

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Keywords

Biomechanical phenomenaClinical environmentsGaitGait analysisGait disorders, neurologicGood health and well-beingHuman gait analysisHumansKinectMarkerless systemMobile robotic platformsMotion captureMultiple sclerosisPeopleRobotic surgical proceduresRoboticsWalkerWalking

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal SENSORS due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Instrumentation.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.06. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2026-04-25, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 16
  • Scopus: 15
  • Europe PMC: 5
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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 2026-04-25:

  • 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: 92.
  • 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: 92 (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: 7.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 1 (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/92485/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 36
  • Downloads: 8
Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, with a probability of 60% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

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

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 (GUFFANTI MARTINEZ, DIEGO ANDRES) and Last Author (NAVARRO CABELLO, ENRIQUE).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been GUFFANTI MARTINEZ, DIEGO ANDRES.

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Awards linked to the item

The research leading to these results received funding from PID2020-118299RB-I00SISTEMA ROBOTICO NO INVASIVO PARA EL ANALISIS BIOMECANICO DE LA MARCHA HUMANA-, Convocatoria 2020 Proyectos de I+D+iRTI Tipo B, of the Government of Spain.
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