Robin
De Lissnyder
Electromechanical Engineer (Robotics & AI)
Master’s graduate in Electromechanical Engineering (Robotics & AI) from École polytechnique de Bruxelles (ULB). I am perfectly trilingual (French Native, Dutch Fluent, English Fluent) and thrive in collaborative engineering environments. In my free time, I am a passionate builder who loves designing and creating hands-on personal hardware & software projects—from cyber-physical smart chessboards to robotic arms and AI platforms. Outside the lab, I'm passionate about running, competitive chess, and cybersecurity CTFs.
Skills, Degrees & Experience
Engineering Competencies
Robotics & Simulation
Kinematics, Physics Engines & Autonomous SystemsDeveloped custom publisher/subscriber and action nodes for robotic arm pick-and-place manipulation during university coursework and the Flanders Make industrial internship.
Multi-body physics simulation, dynamic obstacle avoidance, and trajectory optimization for university robotics course group projects.
Created 3D physics environments and trained Deep Reinforcement Learning agents in C# for automated palletizing and personal RL projects.
Embedded Systems & PCB
Firmware, Hardware Drivers & Board DesignDeveloped real-time C/C++ firmware, bare-metal timer interrupts, hardware GPIO drivers, and Linux backend systemd background services.
Designed schematics and routed multi-layer sensor matrix boards (including the 64-Hall magnetic sensor matrix with analog multiplexing).
Implemented UART, I2C, SPI serial communications with binary packet framing and CRC error checking; tested with logic analyzers and oscilloscopes.
Mechanical CAD & Prototyping
SolidWorks 3D, FEA Simulation & Rapid FabricationModeled multi-part assemblies, mechanical joints, and complex kinematic linkages across university group projects and personal prototypes.
Simulated mechanical stresses, structural deflections, and composite shell load distributions using SolidWorks FEA.
Fabricated functional brackets, enclosures, and chassis parts using Prusa slicer/printers and precision CNC laser cutting in wood and acrylic.
Control Systems & Software
MATLAB, Simulink & Software ExplorationsUsed extensively in university automatic control courses for dynamic system modeling, state-space representations, and PID controller tuning.
Simulated power electronics circuits and designed vehicle trajectory planning using the Virtual Vehicle Composer toolbox in advanced control courses.
Dedicated personal exploration into backend architecture, building custom web applications, REST APIs, and database-driven interfaces.
Work & Research Experience
Robotics & AI Research Intern
2025 (3 Months)Flanders Make (Strategic Research Center for Manufacturing)
Developed Deep Reinforcement Learning palletizing agent in Unity (ML-Agents, C#) and integrated the trained neural network into an industrial ROS2 / C++ robotic manipulation pipeline.
Mathematics & Science Tutoring
2022 – 2026Lycée Emile Jacqmain (Brussels)
Private tutoring and academic mentoring in advanced mathematics and physics for upper-grade students.
Academic Degrees & Languages
Master’s Degree in Electromechanical Engineering
2021 – 2026École polytechnique de Bruxelles (ULB) • Specialization: Robotics
Coursework in automatic control, robotics kinematics, neural network architectures, electrical drives, and embedded microprocessors.
Trilingual Engineering Fluency
Trilingual profile operating across multilingual and international engineering teams with full technical, academic, and professional communication fluency.
Mother tongue & university education
Bilingual Brussels & Flemish industry
International engineering & research
Other Projects & Explorations
AI-Assisted Engineering & Agent Workflows
Agent Harnesses, Obsidian Memory MCP & Automated Verification
Actively using and experimenting with AI coding agents across projects (such as this portfolio and the Smart Chess Board webapp & backend). I test different agent harnesses (OpenCode, Hermes, Claude Code) and configurations to explore how modern AI tools can accelerate engineering work.
Connected Obsidian via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as an external knowledge base for persistent project notes and architectural decisions.
To ensure AI-generated code behaves as expected without hidden regressions, I systematically rely on automated test suites (e.g. 388+ pytest test suite for the Smart Chess Board).
Cybersecurity & CTF Exploitation
2 Years of Self-Taught Security Practice
Hands-on CTF labs on HackTheBox & TryHackMe: web application vulnerabilities, privilege escalation, network packet analysis, and low-level Linux systems auditing.
Deep understanding of Linux OS internals, network protocols, and vulnerabilities.
Nmap, Burp Suite / ZAP, Wireshark, Linux kernel & permissions auditing, and Ghidra reverse engineering.
Voice-Controlled Robot Arm
Personal Project (2022) • OpenAI Whisper STT + GPT Prompt-to-Action
Assembled an articulated robot arm, removed its default wired controller, and connected each motor to electronic motor drivers controlled by a Raspberry Pi.
Voice from a microphone was converted to text using OpenAI Whisper and sent to GPT with a simple prompt. GPT mapped any everyday spoken sentence into direct robot actions (such as motor1-up, gripper-close, or led-on).
A Python script on the Raspberry Pi checked the GPT response using simple if statements (e.g. if action == "motor1-up") and toggled GPIO pins to run the corresponding motors for a set time. This allowed anyone to speak to the robot arm naturally in everyday language without needing fixed trigger phrases.
Get in Touch
Open to full-time robotics, machine learning, and electromechanical engineering opportunities.