Abstract
Digital twins enable real-time modeling, simulation, and monitoring of complex systems, driving advancements in automation, robotics, and industrial applications. This study presents a large-scale digital twin-testing facility for evaluating mobile robots and pilot robotic systems in a research laboratory environment. The platform integrates high-fidelity physical and environmental models, providing a controlled yet dynamic setting for analyzing robotic behavior. A key feature of the system is its comprehensive data collection framework, capturing critical parameters such as position, orientation, and velocity, which can be leveraged for machine learning, performance optimization, and decision-making. The facility also supports the simulation of discrete operational systems, using predictive modeling to bridge informational gaps when real-time data updates are unavailable. The digital twin was validated through a matrix manufacturing system simulation, with an Augmented Reality (AR) interface on the HoloLens 2 to overlay digital information onto mobile platform controllers, enhancing situational awareness. The main contributions include a digital twin framework for deploying data-driven robotic systems and three key AR/VR integration optimization methods. Demonstrated in a laboratory setting, the system is a versatile tool for research and industrial applications, fostering insights into robotic automation and digital twin scalability while reducing costs and risks associated with real-world testing.

Abstract

Abstract
The growing reliance on e-commerce and the demand for efficient intralogistics operations have increased the need for automation, while labour shortages continue to pose significant challenges. When combined with the inherent risks of forklift operation, this circumstance prompted businesses to look for robotic solutions for intralogistics tasks. However, robots are still limited when they come across situations that are outside of their programming scope and often need assistance from humans. To achieve the long-term goal of enhancing intralogistics operation, we propose the development of a virtual reality-based teleoperation system that allows remote operation of robot forklifts with minimal latency. Considering the specificities of the teleoperation process and network dynamics, we conduct detailed modelling to analyse latency factors, optimise system performance, and ensure a seamless user experience. Experimental results on a mobile robot have shown that the proposed teleoperation system achieves an average glass-to-glass latency of 368 ms, with capturing latency contributing to approximately 60% of the total delay. The results also indicate that network oscillations significantly impact image quality and user experience, emphasising the importance of a stable network infrastructure.

Abstract
The Prisoner Transportation Problem is an NP-hard combinatorial problem and a complex variant of the Dial-a-Ride Problem. Given a set of requests for pick-up and delivery and a homogeneous fleet, it consists of assigning requests to vehicles to serve all requests, respecting the problem constraints such as route duration, capacity, ride time, time windows, multi-compartment assignment of conflicting prisoners and simultaneous services in order to optimize a given objective function. In this paper, we present a new solution framework to address this problem that leads to an efficient heuristic. A comparison with computational results from previous papers shows that the heuristic is very competitive for some classes of benchmark instances from the literature and clearly superior in the remaining cases. Finally, suggestions for future studies are presented.

Abstract
PurposeAfrican ports play a vital role in the continent’s economy and international trade. While African ports are essential for the competitiveness of African countries, their low level of digitalization presents significant challenges. This study aims to explore how digitalization initiatives implemented by African countries since 2018 are contributing to addressing the sustainable development goals (SDGs).Design/methodology/approachA qualitative analysis approach is adopted by exploring 19 case studies identified by the World Ports Sustainability Program. It explores how African ports have contributed to addressing the 17 SDGs, the positioning of these initiatives according to sociotechnical systems theory and the role these initiatives can play in reducing asymmetries in performance between African countries.FindingsThe results indicate that the most strongly addressed SDGs are 8, 9 and 17. The technical dimension stands out as the main objective of these projects to the detriment of the social and organizational components. Finally, the findings reveal that these initiatives have not significantly reduced performance gaps between African countries.Originality/valueThis study explores the under-researched nexus between digitalization and sustainable development. It uniquely contextualizes digital initiatives within the SDGs. The value lies in its potential to guide policymakers, port operators and stakeholders in leveraging digital transformation. Moreover, the relevance of this study is amplified as Africa seeks to integrate more fully into the global trade system while addressing pressing challenges related to resource management, sustainable development and socio-economic disparities.

Abstract
Due to the high variability in Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E)-stained Whole Slide Images (WSIs), hidden stratification, and batch effects, generalizing beyond the training distribution is one of the main challenges in Deep Learning (DL) for Computational Pathology (CPath). But although DL depends on large volumes of diverse and annotated data, it is common to have a significant number of annotated samples from one or multiple source distributions, and another partially annotated or unlabeled dataset representing a target distribution for which we want to generalize, the so-called Domain Adaptation (DA). In this work, we focus on the task of generalizing from a single source distribution to a target domain. As it is still not clear which domain adaptation strategy is best suited for CPath, we evaluate three different DA strategies, namely FixMatch, CycleGAN, and a self-supervised feature extractor, and show that DA is still a challenge in CPath.