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Grant support

This research was partially funded by the Community of Madrid in the framework of two research projects: (1) Multiannual agreement with Rey Juan Carlos University in line of action 1, Encouragement of Young Ph.D. Students Investigation project ref. F664, acronym UNIBOTICS2.0. (2) RoboCity2030-DIH-CM (2019-2022): RoboCity2030-Madrid Robotics Digital Innovation Hub, Programa de Actividades de I+D entre Grupos de investigacion de la Comunidad de Madrid en Tecnologias 2018. Project ref. S2018/NMT-4331.

Analysis of institutional authors

Canas, JmCorresponding AuthorMartin-Martin, DAuthorVega, JAuthorRoldan-Alvarez, DAuthorFernandez-Conde, JAuthor

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September 27, 2022
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Open-Source Drone Programming Course for Distance Engineering Education

Publicated to:Electronics. 9 (12): 1-18 - 2020-12-01 9(12), DOI: 10.3390/electronics9122163

Authors: Canas, Jose M; Martin-Martin, Diego; Arias, Pedro; Vega, Julio; Roldan-Alvarez, David; Garcia-Perez, Lia; Fernandez-Conde, Jesus

Affiliations

Francisco de Vitoria Univ, Dept Ind Engn, Madrid 28223, Spain - Author
JdeRobot Org, Madrid 28922, Spain - Author
Rey Juan Carlos Univ, Dept Telemat Syst & Computat, Madrid 28942, Spain - Author
Rey Juan Carlos Univ, Elect Technol Area, Madrid 28933, Spain - Author

Abstract

This article presents a full course for autonomous aerial robotics inside the RoboticsAcademy framework. This drone programming course is open-access and ready-to-use for any teacher/student to teach/learn drone programming with it for free. The students may program diverse drones on their computers without a physical presence in this course. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) applications are essentially practical, as their intelligence resides in the software part. Therefore, the proposed course emphasizes drone programming through practical learning. It comprises a collection of exercises resembling drone applications in real life, such as following a road, visual landing, and people search and rescue, including their corresponding background theory. The course has been successfully taught for five years to students from several university engineering degrees. Some exercises from the course have also been validated in three aerial robotics competitions, including an international one. RoboticsAcademy is also briefly presented in the paper. It is an open framework for distance robotics learning in engineering degrees. It has been designed as a practical complement to the typical online videos of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Its educational contents are built upon robot operating system (ROS) middleware (de facto standard in robot programming), the powerful 3D Gazebo simulator, and the widely used Python programming language. Additionally, RoboticsAcademy is a suitable tool for gamified learning and online robotics competitions, as it includes several competitive exercises and automatic assessment tools.

Keywords

Distance learningDrone programmingGamificationOpen educational platformPlatformPythonRoboticsRos middlewareSystemsTool

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Electronics 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, 2020, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Signal Processing. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q3 for the agency WoS (JCR) in the category Engineering, Electrical & Electronic.

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: 1.26. 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 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.18 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 9 (source consulted: Dimensions Aug 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-08-02, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 23
  • Scopus: 28

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 2025-08-02:

  • 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: 121 (PlumX).

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

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 (Cañas Plaza, Jose María) and Last Author (Fernández Conde, Jesús).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Cañas Plaza, Jose María.