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Pharmaceuticals and dyes are a very important part of the nonbiodegradable or hard biodegradable substances present in wastewater. Microorganisms are already known to be effective biosorbents, but the use of free microbial cells involves difficulties in their separation from effluents and limits their application in wastewater treatment. Thus, this study aimed to develop biosorbents by immobilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces pastorianus and Saccharomyces pastorianus residual biomass on natural polymers (alginate and chitosan) and to evaluate the biosorptive potential for removal of pharmaceuticals and dyes from water. Six types of biosorbents were synthesized and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy techniques and their biosorptive capacities for three drugs (cephalexin, rifampicin, ethacridine lactate) and two dyes (orange II and indigo carmine) were evaluated. The obtained results show that the removal efficiency depends on the polymer type used for the immobilization. In case of alginate the removal efficiency is between 40.05% and 96.41% for drugs and between 27.83% and 58.29% for dyes, while in the case of chitosan it is between 40.83% and 77.92% for drugs and between 17.17% and 44.77% for dyes. In general, the synthesized biosorbents proved to be promising for the removal of drugs and dyes from aqueous solutions.

In this paper we aim to present an evolution of the development of robotic end effectors with applications in fruit and vegetable harvesting but without exhaustively covering all technical solutions. This study is focused on robotic final effectors dedicated to harvesting fruits that have reached an advanced stage of development for apples, tomatoes, sweet peppers and cucumbers. The performances of these final effectors (harvesting speed, success rate, costs, etc.) are compared with the performances of human operators and we could say that so far the robots fail to reach the efficiency of human operators in the harvesting processes. The success rate is below 90% and the harvest times are longer than 10 seconds and this means a low efficiency. Although the level of commercial robots for fruit harvesting has not been reached, technological developments indicate an improvement in the performance of this category of robots, an increasing number of research projects are focused on tomato and apple harvesting technologies.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address optimal positioning of a group of mobile robots for a successful manipulation and transportation of payloads of any shape. Design/methodology/approach The chosen methodology to achieve optimal positioning of the robots around the payload to lift it and to transport it while maintaining a geometric multi-robot formation is presented. This appropriate configuration of the set of robots is obtained by combining constraints ensuring stable and safe lifting and transport of the payload. A suitable control law is then used to track a virtual structure in which each elementary robot has to keep its desired position with respect to the payload. Findings An optimal positioning of mobile robots around a payload to ensure stable co-manipulation and transportation task according to stability multi-criteria constraints. Simulation and experimental results validate the proposed control architecture and strategy for a successful transportation task based on virtual structure navigation approach. Originality/value This paper presents a new strategy for co-manipulation and co-transportation task based on a virtual structure navigation approach. An algorithm for optimal positioning of mobile robots around a payload of any mass and shape is proposed while ensuring stability during the whole process by respecting multi-criteria task stability constraints.

Purpose -At present, more than 100 million undetonated landmines left over from wars remain buried worldwide. These mines kill or injure approximately 3,000 individuals each year (80 persons per day), most of them civilians. They represent a particularly acute problem in developing countries and nations already economically hard hit by war. The problem of unexploded mines has become a serious international issue, with many people striving to find a solution. The purpose of this paper is to examine the requirements of the robotic systems for humanitarian demining purposes. It will discuss a hexapod walking robot developed at the Royal Military Academy of Brussels in collaboration with the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, in the framework of the Humanitarian Demining Project (HUDEM). Design/methodology/approach -Considerations for the design of the walking robot according to the humanitarian demining requirements are discussed in detail. Findings -A successful walking robot design for demining purposes must consider functional requirements relevant to this difficult application. The principal requirements are mentioned in this paper. Originality/value -This paper is the result of the research of the HUDEM project team and it is of value to engineers and researchers developing robotic systems for humanitarian demining purposes.

-This paper introduces an omni-directional mobile robot for educational purposes. The robot has full omnidirectional motion capabilities, thanks to its special Mecanum wheels. The paper provides some information about conventional and special wheels designs, mechanical design aspects of the Mecanum wheel and also electronics and control strategies: remote control, line follow, autonomous strategy.

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