Abstract
The development of robotic systems to operate in forest environments is of great relevance for the public and private sectors. In this sense, this article reviews several scientific papers, research projects and commercial products related to robotic applications for environmental preservation, monitoring, wildfire firefighting, inventory operations, planting, pruning and harvesting. After conducting critical analysis, the main characteristics observed were: (a) the locomotion system is directly affected by the type of environmental monitoring to be performed; (b) different reasons for pruning result in different locomotion and cutting systems; (c) each type of forest, in each season and each type of soil can directly interfere with the navigation technique used; and (d) the integration of the concept of swarm of robots with robots of different types of locomotion systems (land, air or sea) can compensate for the time of executing tasks in unstructured environments. Two major areas are proposed for future research works: Internet of Things (IoT)-based smart forest and navigation systems. It is expected that, with the various characteristics exposed in this paper, the current robotic forest systems will be improved, so that forest exploitation becomes more efficient and sustainable.

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Purpose This paper aims to propose a translation library capable of generating robots proprietary code after their offline programming has been performed in a software application, named AdaptPack Studio, running over a robot simulation and offline programming software package. Design/methodology/approach The translation library, named AdaptPack Studio Translator, is capable to generate proprietary code for the Asea Brown Boveri, FANUC, Keller und Knappich Augsburg and Yaskawa Motoman robot brands, after their offline programming has been performed in the AdaptPack Studio application. Findings Simulation and real tests were performed showing an improvement in the creation, operation, modularity and flexibility of new robotic palletizing systems. In particular, it was verified that the time needed to perform these tasks significantly decreased. Practical implications The design and setup of robotics palletizing systems are facilitated by an intuitive offline programming system and by a simple export command to the real robot, independent of its brand. In this way, industrial solutions can be developed faster, in this way, making companies more competitive. Originality/value The effort to build a robotic palletizing system is reduced by an intuitive offline programming system (AdaptPack Studio) and the capability to export command to the real robot using the AdaptPack Studio Translator. As a result, companies have an increase in competitiveness with a fast design framework. Furthermore, and to the best of the author's knowledge, there is also no scientific publication formalizing and describing how to build the translators for industrial robot simulation and offline programming software packages, being this a pioneer publication in this area.

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.

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In the spring of 2020, six undergraduate students from diverse countries and engineering fields decided to design together a solution to monitor the elderly. This project was performed as part of the European Project Semester (EPS) programme at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). The EM-BRACE solution encompasses two interconnected devices (a home station and a bracelet) and mobile/Web twin applications. The bracelet measures and transmits vital user data (pulse, temperature and impacts) to the home station, whereas the latter measures home environment parameters (temperature, humidity and pressure) and sends local and bracelet data to an Internet of Things (IoT) platform. This way, these data become accessible via the mobile/Web application. Thereby, EM-BRACE monitors the health and environment of the elderly and timely notifies caregivers about problems, contributing to the well-being of the elderly and their families. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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