**About the Editors**

**Giuseppe Manetto**, born on 2nd September 1965, graduated in Mechanical Engineering on 2nd April 1992, obtained his PhD in 1999, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Mechanics at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the University of Catania. His continuous research activity, carried out with his participation in several research projects, covers various aspects of agricultural mechanics, such as the mechanical damage of fruit and vegetables in packing lines, safety aspects of workers in agricultural machines and agricultural and food plants, machinery for pesticide application, tillage and sod seeding, biogas plants, digestate spreading, and the development of prototypes (transportable dairy and milking plants for sheep and goats, mechanical distributor of arthropods, test bench for agricultural spray nozzles). He is the co-author of over 125 publications in national and international scientific journals and congress proceedings.

**Emanuele Cerruto**, born on 29 October 1964 in Modica (in the province of Ragusa, Italy), became a Researcher in 1994, obtained a PhD in 1995, and since 01/11/05, has been a full-time Associate Professor at the Di3A (Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment), section of Mechanics and Mechanization of the University of Catania (Italy). His research activity in the sector of machinery for pesticide application (foliar deposition, ground losses, worker exposure, spray quality), worker safety (noise and vibration exposure), post-harvest technology (packing lines, mechanical fruit damage) and renewable energies (anaerobic digestion plants, digestate spreading), goes back more than 25 years and is attested by more than 185 scientific papers and by the participation, as a member or responsible, of several units of research.

**Domenico Longo**, born on 14 February 1972 in Catania (Italy), obtained his degrees in Electronics and Automation Engineering in 2001 from University of Catania. In February 2005, he obtained his PhD in Electronics and Automation. From 2000, he has been involved in many robotics research projects at the Robotics Laboratory of University of Catania (Italy). His main research interests included mobile robots and, in particular, climbing robots for wall inspection. Since 31/12/2011 is a full-time Assistant Professor at the Di3A (Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment), Section of Mechanics and Mechanization of the University of Catania (Italy). His research activity is in the sector of robotics and mechatronics in agriculture, as well as the development of environmental sensors devices and environmental gas sensing apparatus. His activity is proven by many different scientific papers (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9858-3061) and by the participation, as a member or responsible, in several units of research.

**Rita Papa** was born on 8 September 1982 in Sicily (Italy). In 2009, she graduated from University of Catania (Italy) in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies, specialising in engineering and economic aspects. From the same university, in 2013, she completed her PhD in Agricultural Engineering and, since then, she has been involved in research projects at the Di3A (Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment) of the University of Catania. Her research activity focused at first on different techniques for estimating evapotranspiration over Mediterranean crops; then, it dealt with spray quality in pesticide application, the mechanical distribution of beneficials, worker vibration exposure, anaerobic digestion plants and digestate spreading. She is a research fellow at the Di3A, Section of Mechanics and Mechanization, of the University of Catania.
