Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to propose an automated framework for agile development and simulation of robotic palletizing cells. An automatic offline programming tool, for a variety of robot brands, is also introduced. Design/methodology/approach This framework, named AdaptPack Studio, offers a custom-built library to assemble virtual models of palletizing cells, quick connect these models by drag and drop, and perform offline programming of robots and factory equipment in short steps. Findings Simulation and real tests performed showed an improvement in the design, development and operation of robotic palletizing systems. The AdaptPack Studio software was tested and evaluated in a pure simulation case and in a real-world scenario. Results have shown to be concise and accurate, with minor model displacement inaccuracies because of differences between the virtual and real models. Research limitations/implications An intuitive drag and drop layout modeling accelerates the design and setup of robotic palletizing cells and automatic offline generation of robot programs. Furthermore, A* based algorithms generate collision-free trajectories, discretized both in the robot joints space and in the Cartesian space. As a consequence, industrial solutions are available for production in record time, increasing the competitiveness of companies using this tool. Originality/value The AdaptPack Studio framework includes, on a single package, the possibility to program, simulate and generate the robot code for four different brands of robots. Furthermore, the application is tailored for palletizing applications and specifically includes the components (Building Blocks) of a particular company, which allows a very fast development of new solutions. Furthermore, with the inclusion of the Trajectory Planner, it is possible to automatically develop robot trajectories without collisions.

Abstract
Deep learning (DL) incorporates a modern technique for image processing and big data analysis with large potential. Deep learning is a recent tool in the agricultural domain, being already successfully applied to other domains. This article performs a survey of different deep learning techniques applied to various agricultural problems, such as disease detection/identification, fruit/plants classification and fruit counting among other domains. The paper analyses the specific employed models, the source of the data, the performance of each study, the employed hardware and the possibility of real-time application to study eventual integration with autonomous robotic platforms. The conclusions indicate that deep learning provides high accuracy results, surpassing, with occasional exceptions, alternative traditional image processing techniques in terms of accuracy.

Abstract
Portugal has witnessed some of its largest wildfires in the last decade, due to the lack of forestry management and valuation strategies. A cost-effective biomass collection tool/approach can increase the forest valuing, being a tool to reduce fire risk in the forest. However, cost-effective forestry machinery/solutions are needed to harvest this biomass. Most of bigger operations in forests are already highly mechanized, but not the smaller operations. Mobile robotics know-how combined with new virtual reality and remote sensing techniques paved the way for a new robotics perspective regarding work machines in the forest. Navigation is still a challenge in a forest. There is a lot of information, trees consist of obstacles while lower vegetation may hide danger for robot trajectory, and the terrain in our region is mostly steep. The existence of accurate information about the environment is crucial for the navigation process and for biomass inventory. This paper presents a prototype forest robot for biomass collection. Besides, it is provided a dataset of different forest environments, containing data from different sensors such as 3D laser data, thermal camera, inertial units, GNSS, and RGB camera. These datasets are meant to provide information for the study of the forest terrain, allowing further development and research of navigation planning, biomass analysis, task planning, and information that professionals of this field may require.

Abstract
Traditionally farmers have used their perceptual sensorial systems to diagnose and monitor their crops health and needs. However, humans possess five basic perceptual systems with accuracy levels that can change from human to human which are largely dependent on the stress, experience, health and age. To overcome this problem, in the last decade, with the help of the emergence of smartphone technology, new agronomic applications were developed to reach better, cost-effective, more accurate and portable diagnosis systems. Conventional smartphones are equipped with several sensors that could be useful to support near real-time usual and advanced farming activities at a very low cost. Therefore, the development of agricultural applications based on smartphone devices has increased exponentially in the last years. However, the great potential offered by smartphone applications is still yet to be fully realized. Thus, this paper presents a literature review and an analysis of the characteristics of several mobile applications for use in smart/precision agriculture available on the market or developed at research level. This will contribute to provide to farmers an overview of the applications type that exist, what features they provide and a comparison between them. Also, this paper is an important resource to help researchers and applications developers to understand the limitations of existing tools and where new contributions can be performed.

Abstract
Precision Agriculture (PA) has a fundamental role in the sustainability of agricultural systems, supporting decision-making of agricultural crops, increasing yield and quality in production. In the present research a PA approach for viticulture was made combining remote sensing data and robotic monitoring. With this approach it was intended to perform a spatial-temporal analysis of the grapevine phenology, according the 3 periods of the grape's biological cycle reproductive cycle, peak of the season and vegetative dormancy - corresponding to the years of 2017/18, for a specific area of the Green Wine Region, from Celorico de Basto (Portugal). The proposed methodology is based in the automation of spatial analyses through Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Google Earth Engine (GEE) and Python programming language. GEE was used for image acquisition and processing data of several indices, as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI) and Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index ( VARI). Regarding the geoprocessing of environmental factors, it was considered the following parameters: precipitation, temperature and soil moisture. Afterwards, NDVI was selected for a space-time analysis of the vineyard phenology, once this index represents a close dynamic to the vineyard biological cycle. From the relation between environmental factors and NDVI it was possible to interpret the space-time dynamics of the vineyard phenology. Finally, a spatial interpolation of yield and NDVI was made to understand the influence of NDVI in the yield. It can be assumed that the NDVI does not have a statistically significant influence on vineyard yield.

Abstract
Data processing (or the transformation of data into knowledge and/or information) has become an indispensable tool for decision-making in many areas of engineering. Engineering optimization problems with many objectives are common. However, the decision-making process for these problems is complicated since there are many trade-offs that are difficult to identify. Thus, in this work, multivariate statistical methods, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA), have been studied and applied to analyze the results of many objective engineering optimization problems. PCA reduces the number of objectives to a very small number, CA through the similarities and dissimilarities, creates groups of solutions, i.e., bringing together in the same group solutions with the same characteristics and behaviors. Two engineering optimization problems with many objectives are solved: a mechanical problem consisting in the optimal design of laminated plates, with four objectives and a problem of optimization of the radar waveform, with nine objectives. For the problem of the design of laminated plates through PCA allowed to reduce to two objectives and through CA it was possible to create three distinct groups of solutions. For the problem of optimization of the radar waveform, it was possible to reduce the objectives from nine to two objectives representing the greatest variability of the data, and CA defined three distinct groups of solutions. These results demonstrate that these tools are effective to assist the decision-making processes in the presence of a large number of solutions and/or objectives.