Dimitri 'Dimi' Dekyvere
Kortrijk, Belgium
Professor
Bio
As a child, Dimi (Dimitri Dekyvere) struggled through his school career. Sitting behind a bench and learning to write, mathematics, and languages didn’t fascinate him; he preferred to build with his LEGO bricks. He was especially interested in the hinges, gears, pneumatic cylinders, constructions with moving parts, and hidden doors. Thanks to this LEGO interest, at the age of 12 he chose a technical education, and suddenly, school became interesting. He learned electricity, mechanics, physics, and programming. It soon became clear to him that he wanted to become a programmer or maybe even a teacher in technical subjects. Because of this interest in scientific subjects, school was no longer a problem, and eventually he graduated with a Master’s in Electromechanics, with the option of Automation.
For a few years, he worked as a programmer in Belgium to start up all kinds of machines in different companies. Now he teaches Mechatronics and Industrial Automation at Vives University College. His passion for LEGO and how LEGO helped him on his way hasn’t been forgotten. Besides his lessons for the VIVES students (in which he also uses LEGO robots), Dimi has set himself the goal to introduce young people to the wonderful world of science and robotics. He gives LEGO workshops to children and teachers, both in the VIVES LEGO Education Innovation Studio and all over the country. He also brings robot animations with remote-controlled LEGO Robots and demos with his MOC’s to events and competitions like FLL.
One of his biggest projects was the design of a fully automated LEGO EV3 robot port for Port Centre Antwerp and Rato Education. These and many others of his LEGO robot creations can be seen on his YouTube channel or on the legostudiovives.be website where he and his colleagues share videos, building instructions and programs of these LEGO robot designs.
If you like a challenge, the world record “Largest parade of LEGO Mindstorms robots” is with 215 EV3 robots still associated with him.
Note: Shown here with his supporting wife, Griet