Hi, I’m Nico — Stuttgart, Germany

AI research for renewable energy & wildlife protection.

Research scientist and project lead at ZSW. I build AI systems that forecast wind and solar power, monitor biodiversity, and keep protected birds safe around wind turbines.

Portrait of Nico Klar
Project Lead · BirdRecorderZSW · AI anti-collision system
Stations & collaborations ZSW Daimler Bosch Siemens Universität Stuttgart
10+
Years in engineering, AI & robotics
5
Active research fields
4
Industry & research stations
1
Mission: sustainable innovation
About

Engineer by training, researcher by curiosity.

From autonomous driving to renewable energy

With a degree in electrical engineering and information technology, I contributed to industry projects with Siemens, Bosch, and Daimler — focusing on driver assistance systems and fully autonomous driving.

Today I’m part of the AI Competence Team at the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW): AI models for wind and photovoltaic forecasting, digital twins for quality assurance, and optimized electrode manufacturing in battery research.

The most rewarding part: leading the BirdRecorder project — an AI-powered anti-collision system combining mechatronics, robotics, and computer vision to protect birds of prey around wind turbines.

Photography & videoCreative eye, honed on wildlife
Music productionSound, songs & experiments
DIY & hands-on buildsFrom prototypes to workshops
Toolbox

Skills that ship research.

Artificial Intelligence

Deep Neural NetworksReinforcement LearningComputer VisionLLMs & AgentsDigital TwinsSequence Models

Robotics & Mechatronics

Multi-Agent SystemsSensor FusionMulti-Object TrackingROS2 & SLAMSelf-Driving SystemsGazebo / RViz

Programming & Tools

PythonPyTorch / TensorFlowMATLAB / SimulinkC++ / Java / C#GrafanaMicrocontrollersWeb Apps & GUIs

Beyond Code

Project ManagementNetworking & AcquisitionTeaching & CommunicationInterdisciplinary ThinkingStress Resilience
Experience

The path so far.

2024 – today
ZSW · Stuttgart

Project Lead — BirdRecorder & Bird-/BatRecorder 2.0

Coordinating development and testing of modular systems to improve bird and bat safety around wind turbines — toward the first validated anti-collision system made in Germany.

2023 – today
Flight Robotics & Perception Group

Group Member

Computer vision, sensor systems, multi-object tracking, and ROS2 for autonomous flight robotics.

2020 – today
ZSW · Systems Analysis

Research Associate — AI Applications

Wind, PV, and hydro forecasting with deep learning; image recognition for renewable energy; species protection R&D.

2019 – 2020
Universität Stuttgart · ISS

Master Thesis (M.Sc.)

Semantic image segmentation for urban automated driving; domain adaptation through style transfer.

2019
Daimler AG

Working Student — Urban Automated Driving

Environment perception for self-driving cars; digital testing of AD functions.

2013 – 2018
Bosch · Siemens

Research Project, Bachelor Thesis & Internship

eBike rider system identification at Bosch; autonomous robot shuttle and web interfaces at Siemens.

Let’s build something meaningful.

Whether it’s research collaboration, a talk, or an unconventional idea — I’m happy to hear from you.

Contact me