Due to COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increasing demand for mobile robots to substitute human in disinfection tasks. New generations of disinfection robots could be developed to navigate in high-risk, high-touch areas. Public spaces, such as airports, schools, malls, hospitals, workplaces and factories could benefit from robotic disinfection in terms of task accuracy, cost, and execution time. The aim of this work is to integrate and analyse the performance of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, as global path planner, coupled with Dynamic Window Approach (DWA) for reactive collision avoidance using a ROS-based software prototyping tool. This paper introduces our solution – a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) and optimal path planning-based approach for performing autonomous indoor disinfection work. This ROS-based solution could be easily transferred to different hardware platforms to substitute human to conduct disinfection work in different real contaminated environments.

It is well-known that, in the past decades, the burning of fossil fuels was identified as the major cause of climate change. Climate change mitigation is becoming a central concern of global society. Limiting global warming to below 2 °C above the temperature of the pre-industrial period is the key to preserving global ecosystems and providing a secure basis for human activities, as well as reducing excessive environmental change. The ambitions increased at an accelerated pace with a dramatic expansion of net zero-emission targets. Increasing pressure from citizens and society has forced countries to intensify their climate plans, while the private sector has bought a record amount of renewable energy. An energy system based on fossil fuels must be replaced by renewable energy with low carbon emissions with improved energy efficiency. That applies to all consumers of fossil energy: cities, villages, building sectors, industry, transport, agriculture, and forestry. The paper explores and presents the strategy of energy development of renewable energy sources in the world. The application of new technologies that have led to developing renewable energy sources is presented in detail: wind energy, solar energy, small hydropower plants, biomass, and their increase in the total share of energy production, i.e., reduced fossil fuel use in energy production. Investments in new technologies used in renewable energy sources have led to increases in employment worldwide. Analysis of the trend of increased energy production from RES (Renewable Energy Sources) with investment plans, the employment rate for each energy source, and the development of renewable energy sources in the coming period are provided.

From the very knowledge of Industry 4.0, its implementation is carried out in all segments of society, but we still do not fully understand the breadth and speed of its implementation. We are currently witnessing major changes in all industries, so new business methods are emerging. There is a transformation of production systems, a new form of consumption, delivery, and transportation, all thanks to the implementation of new technological discoveries that cover robotics and automation, the internet of things (IoT), 3D printers, smart sensors, radio frequency identification (RFID), etc. Robotic technology is one of the most important technologies in Industry 4.0, so that the robot application in the automation of production processes with the support of information technology brings us to smart automation (i.e., smart factories). The changes are so deep that, from the perspective of human history, there has never been a time of greater promise or potential danger.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the correct application of FEM analysis can be used to find effective solutions for the design of mechanical structures. The design of the inspection openings on the tanks is being considered. There are several existing tanks of the same dimensions (20 m high and diameter 10,2 m), but they have different wall thicknesses (9,6; 15; 20 and 25 mm). For inspection purposes, assembly of manhole hatch on all tanks is required. The manhole hatch is designed applying standard API 650. All tanks are filled with the water to the top 20 m high. Several different analyses have been carried out in order to ensure that there are not too high stresses in the materials of the existing tanks due to the insertion of the manhole hatch and finally qualify construction according to EN-13445 norm. The elastic analysis shows that stresses in the material are too high and the design hasn’t been approved. In order to avoid redesign procedures, which can be expensive and sometimes difficult to do in reality, plastic analysis has been done. After plastic analysis, the design could be approved with the restriction on the max. preload force in the bolts 40 kN/per bolt.

Mobile robots are increasingly becoming the subject of research and a very important area of science, so that the 21st century will be named as the century of development of service robots. Mobile robots are an excellent “System Engineering” research example because it includes a lot of scientific research, namely in the area of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronics, computer science, social science, and more. As mobile robots perform their tasks in the same environment as humans, mobile robots should have the abilities that people have. The mobile robots should be able to recognize faces, gestures, signs, objects, speech and atmosphere. Successful realization set of tasks results in bypassing obstacles without collision and destruction in the shortest possible time and distance. They should communicate with people on the basis of emotion. The range of mobile robots application is huge. Mobile robots have found application in many areas, but this chapter will cover the following distribution of mobile robots areas of application: medicine, agriculture, defense, logistics, construction, demolition, professional cleaning, space exploration, education and scientific research. The price of robots is declining steadily and they are coming into ever wider use. It is only a matter of time before robots become available to the population of today's high school students, just as it happened with computers and cell phones.

All companies in the world are facing global competition. In order to keep up with the competition and meet the increasing demands of the market, it is essential that they use new technologies in the production processes (i.e., to implement Industry 4.0). The chapter presents smart sensors that automatically detect errors during the production process. Smart sensors communicate via IO-Link in stable communication, whereas the technology itself offers numerous practical benefits in everyday industrial work. Sensors are excellent data collectors and highly intelligent analysts that share their knowledge with their environment through an integrated real-time IO-Link interface. With the implementation of smart sensors in production systems, they become flexible production systems, contribute to the rapid start-up of the process, are automatically adjusted, enable digital data transmission, and can verify the device and the records.