At ACM SIGGRAPH 2025, I sat down with Nick Schneider, Neural Reconstruction Manager at NVIDIA, to dive into the announcement of NuRec — NVIDIA’s new reconstruction framework built on Gaussian Splatting. In this interview, Nick shares how NuRec is shaping the future of robotics, simulation, and radiance field research. From his background in the automotive industry and autonomous trucks to today’s breakthroughs at NVIDIA, Nick explains why Gaussian Splatting is proving to be such a powerful tool for bringing the real world into simulation. We discuss: • What NuRec is and why it matters • How Gaussian Splatting enables fast, high-fidelity simulation • Support for new sensor models, USD workflows, and robotics platforms • Fixer, nrend, and other components that accelerate reconstruction • Standardization challenges as radiance field methods evolve • Applications in autonomous vehicles, humanoid robots, and physical AI This conversation highlights why NuRec is a major milestone for NVID...