Prof. Javier Ruiz-del-Solar |  Environments | Best Researcher Award

Universidad de Chile,  Chile

Prof. Javier Ruiz-del-Solar S. (b. April 23, 1968) is a Full Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Director of the Advanced Mining Technology Center at the Universidad de Chile. A Chilean national, he earned his Doctor-Engineer degree from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany (1997), following a Master’s and Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Chile.

Profile:

• Google Scholar 

🎓 Education:

• 🧠 Doctor-Engineer – Technical University Berlin, Germany (1997)

• ⚡ M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering – Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Chile (1992)

• 🔌 Electrical Engineer – Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Chile (1991)

🏆 Selected Awards & Honors:

• 🏅 Member, Chilean Academy of Engineering (since 2009)

• 🏆 Best Paper Awards – RoboCup Symposium (2004, 2015, 2017)

• 🤖 RoboCup @Home Innovation Awards (2007, 2008)

• 🎤 Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE RAS (2008–2009)

• 👨‍🏫 Best Teacher Award, Universidad de Chile (2007)

🤖 Research Interests:

• Robotics & Autonomous Systems

• Mining Technology

• Deep Learning & Artificial Intelligence

🔬 Professional Activities:

• 📚 Academic Accreditation: Comisionado, Comisión Nacional de Acreditación (CNA) (2010–2016)

• 🛠️ Chairman, IEEE Latin American Robotics Council (2003–present)

• 📝 Editorial Roles:

  • Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems – Associate Editor (2008–2017)

  • IEEE Trans. on Cognitive and Developmental Systems – Associate Editor (2017–2023)

  • Journal of Field Robotics – Advisory Board Member (2022–2024)

🎓 Ph.D. Thesis Supervision (Selected, 2014–2024):

Guided diverse theses in robotics, AI, and mining tech, including:

• 👕 Recognition of clothing using continuous perception

• 🧠 Brain-computer interfaces

• 🤖 Multi-agent reinforcement learning

• 🛻 Autonomous vehicle environment mapping

• ⛏️ Geometallurgical unit discovery (Mining)

📚 Teaching (2014–2024):

Led numerous undergraduate and graduate courses, including:

• 💡 Inteligencia Computacional

• 🖼️ Procesamiento Avanzado de Imágenes

• 🤖 Seminario de Robótica y Sistemas Autónomos

• 🛠️ Diseño e Innovación Tecnológica I, II, III

• 🧪 Tópicos Especiales en Minería

📈 Citation Metrics:

• Cited by:

  • All time: 5,930 citations

  • Since 2020: 1,958 citations

• h-index:

  • All time: 38

  • Since 2020: 25

• i10-index:

  • All time: 143

  • Since 2020: 59

Publication Top Notes:

1. Eigenspace-based face recognition: A comparative study of different approaches
   J. Ruiz-del-Solar, P. Navarrete
   IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Reviews, 2005.
   247 citations

2. Recognition of faces in unconstrained environments: A comparative study
   J. Ruiz-del-Solar, R. Verschae, M. Correa
   EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, 2009, Article ID 1–19.
   179 citations

3. Illumination compensation and normalization in eigenspace-based face recognition: A comparative study of different pre-processing approaches
   J. Ruiz-del-Solar, J. Quinteros
   Pattern Recognition Letters, 29(14), 1966–1979, 2008.
   171 citations

4. Real-time hand gesture detection and recognition using boosted classifiers and active learning
   H. Francke, J. Ruiz-del-Solar, R. Verschae
   In: Advances in Image and Video Technology: Second Pacific Rim Symposium, PSIVT 2007.
   141 citations

5. Object recognition using local invariant features for robotic applications: A survey
   P. Loncomilla, J. Ruiz-del-Solar, L. Martínez
   Pattern Recognition, 60, 499–514, 2016.
   136 citations

6. A comparative study of thermal face recognition methods in unconstrained environments
   G. Hermosilla, J. Ruiz-del-Solar, R. Verschae, M. Correa
   Pattern Recognition, 45(7), 2445–2459, 2012.
   135 citations

7. Skin detection using neighborhood information
   J. Ruiz-del-Solar, R. Verschae
   In: 6th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, 2004.
   124 citations

8. RoboCup@Home: Analysis and results of evolving competitions for domestic and service robots
   L. Iocchi, D. Holz, J. Ruiz-del-Solar, K. Sugiura, T. Van Der Zant
   Artificial Intelligence, 229, 258–281, 2015.
   118 citations

9. Offline signature verification using local interest points and descriptors
   J. Ruiz-del-Solar, C. Devia, P. Loncomilla, F. Concha
   In: Iberoamerican Congress on Pattern Recognition, 22–29, 2008.
   118 citations

10. Robotics courses for children as a motivation tool: The Chilean experience
    J. Ruiz-del-Solar, R. Avilés
    IEEE Transactions on Education, 47(4), 474–480, 2004.
    117 citations