Abstract
Laboratory experiments are important pedagogical tools in engineering courses. Restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic made it very difficult or impossible for laboratory classes to take place, resulting on a fast transition to simulation as an approach to guarantee the effectiveness of teaching. Simulation environments are powerful tools that can be adopted for remote classes and self-study. With these tools, students can perform experiments and, in some cases, make use of the laboratory facilities from outside of the University. This paper proposes and describes two free tools developed during the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down that allowed students to work from home, namely a set of simulation experiments and a Hardware-in-the-loop simulator, accessible 24/7. Two approaches in Python and C languages are presented, both in the context of Robotics courses for Engineering students. Successful results and student feedback indicate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches in institutions in Portugal and in the Netherlands.

Abstract
This survey analyses and compares ten different robots capable of hybrid locomotion in an attempt to elucidate the readers on several aspects of importance when designing and implementing a legged-wheeled vehicle. With this purpose in mind, the robots are compared based on their goals, kinematic configurations, joint specifications and overall performance. In this text, their variety and versatility is presented, justifying their use in real-world scenarios.

Abstract
Simulators have been increasingly used on development and tests on several areas. They allow to speed up the development without damage and no extra costs. On realistic simulators, where kinematics play an important role, the modelling process should be imported for each component to be accurately simulated. Some robots are not yet modelled, as for example the Monera. This paper presents a model of a small vibration robot (Monera) that is acquired in a developed test-bed. A localisation ground truth is used to acquire the position of the Monera with actuating it. Linear and angular speeds acquired from real experiments allow to validate the proposed methodology.