Tag Archives: factory

How “Beauty Factory” Addresses Two Major Cosmological Mysteries

Posted on by
Reply

“B-mesons assist us in unraveling significant cosmic queries. Why is there a predominance of matter over antimatter?”

sakkmesterke/alamy

Did you know that in the realm of physics, there are facilities dubbed beauty factories? This term doesn’t refer to aesthetics; rather, it describes an experiment where electrons collide with their antimatter equivalents, positrons, to create B-mesons.

B-mesons are constructed from quarks, the building blocks of normal matter. Typically, everyday matter comprises up-quarks and down-quarks, while B-mesons are made up of beauty quarks combined with up, down, charm, or strange quarks.

This unique configuration results in B-mesons having a fleeting existence, seemingly detached from common life. However, their significance lies in the potential answers they hold regarding universal enigmas, such as the imbalance of matter versus antimatter.

We understand that all particles have corresponding antiparticles. Yet, when we observe the universe, we see a predominance of particles, like electrons, overshadowing their antiparticle counterparts, positrons, which are merely identical but with reversed charges.

Mesons are particularly intriguing as they inhabit the space between the prevalent matter and antimatter realms. This positions them as potential keys to unlocking the mystery of the disparity between the two. Grasping this could clarify why the universe holds such a favorable balance of matter when encounters between matter and antimatter typically result in annihilation. The formation of B factories arises from the desire to decode this cosmic puzzle.

The complexity deepens when considering mesons and their own antiparticles. Each B-meson consists of beauty quarks paired with up, down, charm, or strange quarks. Neutral B-mesons, devoid of charge, exhibit oscillatory behavior as they transform between mesons and their antiparticles. In essence, neutral B-mesons exemplify a spontaneous non-binary state.

These neutral B-mesons are pivotal in addressing the asymmetry of matter and antimatter. Their non-binary characteristics are anticipated within the standard model of particle physics, which catalogs known particles. However, we must determine whether these oscillatory states are evenly distributed. Are collisions more likely to yield a meson or its antiparticle? Disparities in these oscillations may shed light on the core asymmetries of matter and antimatter.

“
B factories could illuminate the nature of an elusive component: dark matter, which remains unseen in laboratories.
“

In 2010, researchers from the Fermilab Dzero collaboration identified a 1% deviation, although subsequent studies haven’t corroborated this result. The exploration of these discrepancies continues to intrigue, particularly as variances emerge in unrelated vibration studies.

B factories may also expand our comprehension of dark matter, an entity detected only through its gravitational effects on visible matter. Approximately 85% of the universe’s mass seems to consist of this invisible material, which the standard model has yet to account for.

Crafting a theory to explain dark matter necessitates postulating new particles or forces, some of which might interact subtly with known particles, complicating detection. These interactions often hinge on mediators—entities that facilitate such connections. While these mediators are elusive, under optimal conditions, they may not be directly observable. However, we can anticipate witnessing decay products, such as electron-positron pairs, serving as indicators. This is where B factories play a crucial role; they are engineered to analyze the outcomes of electron-positron collisions.

In addition to collider physics, the longevity of data acquisition and experiments is particularly captivating. For instance, the BABAR experiment at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory closed in 2008, yet researchers continue to sift through its data, educating the next generation of physicists.

In 2022, Brian Schub and his undergraduate team at Harvey Mudd College near Los Angeles revisited ideas involving nearly two-decade-old BABAR data. They proposed that virtual particles, referred to as axions, may function as mediators between visible and dark matter. Long-time readers may recognize that axion research is a focal point of my work.

So, do these hypotheses regarding our universe’ mechanics hold water? This inquiry aligns with our quest to comprehend matter-antimatter asymmetry.

What I’m reading

I’ve just finished Wasim, a student of Gazan physics. Witness to the Hellfire of Genocide, A tragic memoir.

What I’m watching

I’m finally watching The Wire after years of avoidance.

What I’m working on

I am reexamining cosmological perturbation theory.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of New Hampshire. She is the author of The Disordered Cosmos and future works Edges of Space Time: Particles, Poetry, Boogie in the Universe Dreams

Source: www.newscientist.com

Tesla’s Massive Factory in Germany: Shadows Cast on Local Lives

Posted on by
Reply

when Elon Musk encouraged Germans to support the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) in last year’s election, Manu Heuer, a resident of the small town where the billionaire established Tesla’s European production center, expressed her concerns.

“How can you engage in business with individuals who endorse right-wing extremism?” she questioned Dietimar Wudike, the Social Democrat leader in Brandenburg, who backed the creation of the Tesla Giga Factory in Grunheide.

Heuer described Woidke’s “unfortunate, yet predictable” response, where he dismissed the claim. “He claimed he didn’t know Musk personally, as if that were a valid excuse,” she noted.




Manu Heuer has sought to question local politicians regarding Elon Musk’s backing of the far-right Alternative for Germany party. Photo: Imago/Alamy

She co-founded Citizens’ Initiatives to develop a vibrant community on a sandy plain southwest of Berlin to oppose plans announced in 2019. At the time, there was significant concern regarding the potential environmental effects of factories on the local pine forests and groundwater.

Recently, it is Musk’s politics that have raised alarms. Not only did he notably endorse far-right European parties, but he also appeared to make a Nazi salute at a rally following Donald Trump’s inauguration.




Elon Musk will inspect the vehicle when production commences at the Tesla facility in Grunheide. Photo: Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Tesla’s sales have declined, particularly in Europe, where new vehicle sales have dropped for the fifth consecutive month, despite overall growth in the electric vehicle market.

Heiko Basin, another member of the civic initiative, expressed a sense of schadenfreude. “We had placed our hopes in this,” the carpenter shared during a recent walk in the shadows of the expansive Grunheide factory.

As sales continue to drop, factories face challenges. Production shifts for the Y model have decreased from 3-2 units per day. IG Metal, which has recruited hundreds of workers despite Tesla’s resistance, urged the company to consider placing employees in “Kurzarbeit.”

Regional media has reported that Tesla is relocating to carriers at a former East German airport, approximately 60 km (37 miles) away.

Musk’s apparent Nazi salute elicited shock and horror in Germany, but it went largely unnoticed in Grunheide until the campaign group projected an image on the facade of the Tesla factory with the Nazi-related word “heil” provocatively placed in front of the Tesla logo.

The outcry from the incident was palpable on the factory floor, as workers told tabloid Berlin Klier. “In Tesla Germany, they tried to maintain distance from (Musk) and remained silent,” one worker noted. Now, they could no longer ignore their ties.

Workers are hard to reach and are often compelled to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Yet, on Khunnu, a work portal allowing employees to express their thoughts anonymously, a Tesla worker shared:

Almut, a local resident, remarked that politicians tout the benefits Tesla has brought to the area, yet “fail to acknowledge the troubling reality that it subsidizes the wealthiest individual in the world who bears no social responsibility for what occurs here.”

She said locals often joke about what might replace the factory if Tesla were to fail. “Ammunition factories? Prisons? In a way, those seem like decent alternatives,” she quipped. The only positive contribution she could recall from Tesla was the robotic lawnmower it donated to a local soccer club.




While local politicians in Grunheide were keen to highlight the advantages of the factory, some residents voiced concerns about the environmental effects of light pollution and excessive water consumption. Photo: Michele Tantussi/Getty Images

Just two weeks prior to the salute, Musk publicly supported the AFD during an hour-long discussion with co-leader Alice Weidel, touching on topics like Hitler, solar energy, and German bureaucracy. Musk mentioned that Tesla had to submit a staggering 25,000-page form to establish the Grunheide factory. Notably, the AFD has vehemently opposed the Tesla facility, citing concerns over US-led turbo-capitalism and the erosion of workers’ rights. “People need to get behind the AFD,” Musk stated.

For Grunheide residents who oppose Musk, their concerns are compounded by the factory’s impact on rural areas characterized by forests, lakes, and rivers.

New bike lanes and roads necessitate the clearing of large swaths of pine forests, threatening the area’s already precarious drinking water resources and officially declared drought zones.




Tesla Giga Factory with forests in the backdrop. Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The expansive factory complex, covering 300 hectares (740 acres), is set for expansion by another 100 hectares under a plan submitted by the Mayor of Grunheide, despite a local referendum where 62% of voters voiced opposition.

Supporters highlight the 11,000 jobs created by the factories and the positive impact on the local economy in a region previously governed by the Communist Party. Many young residents look forward to more frequent train services to Berlin, improved supermarket stocks, and the elevation of their hometowns alongside Tesla’s other locations in Shanghai, Nevada, and Austin as examples of “green capitalism.” It is said that an invitation to the “Rave Cave” Technodance Space Mask was sought within the factory complex.

For job openings, the Tesla recruitment page emphasizes that diversity is central to its business model, listing numerous positions available from shift managers to maintenance technicians.

Nevertheless, even among those who have previously expressed enthusiasm for Tesla, sentiments have turned cold. Formerly, a group of local teenagers routinely flew drones over the construction site and proudly shared their videos on YouTube. “Even though I’m no longer anonymous about Tesla/Elon, I’m happy to discuss publicly about them,” one teen texted to the Guardian.

There has been no response from the company regarding interview requests or access to the factory.

Arne Christani, the Mayor of Grunheide and a steadfast Musk supporter, expressed confidence that Tesla will thrive in Grunheide. He mentioned he was unfazed by Musk’s statements or actions. “We must differentiate between what happens in the United States and here in Grunheide,” he stated.

Heuer, living 9 km from the factory, remains hopeful of seeing a starry sky from her garden once again. “Since the factory was built, it’s been challenging due to light pollution from the round-the-clock operation,” she remarked, sharing before and after photos on her phone.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Neanderthals Operated a “Fat Factory” for Bone and Grease Processing.

Posted on by
Reply

Neanderthal cooking abilities were more advanced than previously believed.

Gregoire Cirade/Science Photo Library

Almost 100,000 years ago, Neanderthals processed animal bones to extract fat, a practice that was also seen in modern humans around 125,000 years ago.

This discovery stems from a remarkable lakeside site in Neumark Nod, eastern East Germany, where over 100,000 bone fragments from at least 172 individual animals were uncovered, including horses, dogs, deer, foxes, large cats, and extinct twin rhinoceroses.

The bones exhibited clear signs of having been crushed into small pieces and heated to release the fat contained within the spongy tissues. This fat could have served as a rich source of high-calorie nutrition for hunter-gatherer groups.

Will Roebroeks and his team at Leiden University in the Netherlands described the site as a “fat factory” suggesting it was intensively used for a short period. “The fragmentation of the bones is distinctly artificial and not a result of natural predation or geological forces,” he states.

While there is no direct evidence of butchery by Neanderthals, they were the primary known human species in Europe at that time, Roebroeks points out.

Previously, the earliest evidence for grease rendering was located in Portugal, dating back only 28,000 years.

The labor-intensive process of breaking down large mammal bones into such tiny fragments only makes sense if it serves a purpose, Roebroeks notes.

The team lacks direct evidence of boiling; however, it is evident that the bones were heated. “Given the clearly heated bones, heated flint tools, and the presence of stones, it indicates that fire was utilized at the site,” he explains.

Since the earliest known pottery dates back around 20,000 years, the Neanderthals likely used other types of containers to boil the bones. Recent experiments indicate that containers made from materials like deer hides and birch bark can be placed directly over the fire, allowing sufficient water to heat up for cooking, according to Roebroeks.

“This adds yet another layer to the complex cultural practices of our distant relatives, suggesting that these hunter-gatherers may have engaged in forms of food preservation,” he concludes.

Topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

For centuries, the Iron Age site functioned as a purple dye factory

Posted on by
Reply

Stoneware with purple dye residue found at Tel Shiqmona, Israel

Maria Bukin/Shalvi et al. , 2025, Plos One, CC-By 4.0

For centuries, modern Israeli coastal settlements have been home to industrial scale production from marine snails of purple dye, one of the most precious commodities in the ancient world.

Known as Tyrian Purple, it was particularly sought to color wool fabrics, and was highly regarded by wealthy and powerful people in Iron Age Mediterranean society. However, up until now, direct evidence of large-scale production sites has been sparse.

From 1100 BC to about 900 BC, Tel Shiqmona was a small Phoenician fishing village, producing small scale purple dyes. Later, when the Kingdom of Israel began to expand, the site said it had “transformed from a fishing village into a fortified purple dye production centre. Golan Charvy At the University of Chicago.

During archaeological research at the site, Sharvi and his colleagues discovered the remains of dye-dyed debris used to treat the material. 176 artifacts related to the production of purple dyes were collected, including 135 purple dye items.

The dye secretes mucus to protect itself and to kill prey. “The secretion is initially a slightly greenish fluid that oxidizes upon exposure to air and gradually turns purple,” says Sharvi. “However, to convert it into a real dye (something that chemically binds to textiles), it must be processed into solution through a complex series of chemical steps.”

Researchers argue that Tel Shiqmona is the only site in the world with clear evidence of the large-scale production of purple dyes in specialized facilities for a long time.

However, there is no historical record linking the site to the dye, and little is known about the actual process used to manufacture it, Shalvi says.

After the Kingdom of Israel fell around 720 BC, the scale of dye production fell until the Assyrians took over the site and increased the process again. When the Babylonians conquered the area around 600 BC, dye production at Tel Shiqmona was abandoned.

“It was most industrial sites in the Iron Age, and there was no monumental architecture or any particular beauty or elegance,” says Sharvi. “I think it’s a very smelly place, especially in modern noses, as the production process has produced a terrible smell. I imagine wool fleece dyed in various shades that are dry on the outside and inside of the building.

Purple dyes have captivated people all over the world, he says, and it has been the subject of extensive research. “The relationship with elite classes and religious rituals has grown in cultural, symbolic and economic significance, far beyond its function as mere colour.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Trump’s tariffs leading to decrease in automobile imports and factory closures

Posted on by
Reply

President Trump’s 25% tariff on imported vehicles, which came into effect last week, has already sent tremors through the automotive industry, urging businesses to halt ship cars to the US, shutting down factories in Canada and Mexico, and firing workers in Michigan and other states.

The UK-based Jaguar Land Rover said it will temporarily suspend luxury car exports to the US. Stellantis Idled Factory in Canada and Mexico fired 900 US workers who built Chrysler and Jeep vehicles and supply engines and other parts to those factories.

Volkswagen’s luxury division, Audi, has also suspended exports of cars from Europe to the US, telling dealers to sell whatever they still have on their lot.

If other car manufacturers move in the same way, the economic impact will be severe, leading to rising car prices and widespread layoffs. Auto tariffs are one of the first of several industry-specific collections Trump has in his vision, and can provide early clues as to how companies will respond to his trade policies, such as whether to raise US prices or increase manufacturing prices. The president also said he would like to tax the imports of medicines and computer chips.

Applying new tariffs on imported vehicles could increase costs to consumers by thousands of dollars and significantly reduce the demand for those vehicles. For some Jaguar Land Rover or Audi models, customs duties can be over $20,000 per car.

While many of the initial effects of tariffs were destructive, in at least one case, Trump’s obligations had the intentional impact of increasing production in the United States. Last week, General Motors said it would increase production of light trucks at its Fort Wayne, Indiana plant.

The long-term impact of the 25% tariff is unknown. Many automakers are still trying to find ways to avoid rising prices because consumers can’t afford a new car. Investors are pessimistic. Stocks of Ford Motor, GM and Tesla have declined in trading over the past few days.

“Everyone in the automotive supply chain is focused on what they can do to minimize the impact of tariffs on their balance sheets and prices,” said Kevin Roberts, director of Economic and Market Information at Cargurus, an online shopping site.

However, automakers have never had to sign such high tariff levys with such little notice. Analysts and dealers also had little insight into what the president would do next.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Large factory emissions may contribute to snowfall.

Posted on by
Reply
SEI 229454176

Factory aerosols could change clouds in the sky

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Satellite images show that plumes of pollutants from large factories can cause snowfall and leave holes in widespread clouds.

It has long been known that fine particles of soot-like pollutants, known as aerosol pollution, can affect clouds in a variety of ways. Water vapor can condense on pollutant particles and cause cloud formation, and pollutants can also change the properties of existing clouds.

While researching these effects, Vere Thor Researchers at the University of Tartu in Estonia noticed that holes sometimes appear in clouds downwind of major pollution sources. He and his colleagues have now analyzed thousands of satellite images of North America and Eurasia and found 67 locations where this effect can be seen under the right atmospheric conditions.

Weather radar confirmed that these events were causing snowfall. In the largest example the researchers found, up to 15 millimeters of snow fell over an area of ​​2,200 square kilometers (850 square miles).

This happens because pollutant particles freeze around supercooled water droplets in the cloud, creating ice crystals that grow into snowflakes, Toll said. “And as the water comes out of the clouds as snow, you end up with fewer clouds.”

In the absence of particles, water droplets in clouds remain liquid even when the air is as cold as -40°C (-40°F).

This satellite image shows reduced cloud cover downwind of a Canadian copper smelter

Vere Thor

Most of the 67 sources of pollution found by the research team were oil refineries and factories producing metals, cement, and fertilizers. But surprisingly, the researchers occasionally observed similar effects near four nuclear power plants that do not produce any aerosol emissions.

This could be because the warm air rising from these power plants is picking up aerosol pollution from elsewhere, but the researchers have not confirmed this. “There's no clear explanation for that,” Toll said.

In theory, it's possible to intentionally induce snowfall using aerosol effects, but that would only work if a cloud of supercooled liquid water droplets was already present, Tolle said. say.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Unlocking Iceland’s Secret Weapon in the Battle Against Climate Change: The Hidden Carbon Factory

Posted on by
Reply

Is removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere one of the best weapons against climate change? Climeworks, a Swiss company, believes so, as they have recently unveiled the world’s largest direct carbon capture and storage plant.

The new facility, Mammoth, will be located in Hellisheiði, Iceland, and will be nine times larger than Climeworks’ original plant, Orka. Mammoth’s goal is to extract 36,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually, equivalent to removing approximately 8,600 cars from the road.

Powered by renewable energy, Mammoth captures carbon dioxide from the air and transports it to a facility where it is combined with water and injected deep underground. The carbonated water reacts with porous basalt rocks, transforming them into solid carbonate minerals that securely sequester the carbon underground for thousands of years.

The Mammoth Power Plant aims to have 12 of its 72 heat collection containers installed and fully operational by the end of 2024.

Climeworks co-founders and co-CEOs Christoph Gevaert and Jan Wurzbacher oversee the early stages of construction of the mammoth factory. Photo courtesy of Climeworks

Swiss mechanical engineers and Climeworks founders Christoph Gevaert and Jan Wurzbacher introduced the concept of a direct air capture plant in 2015. Since then, the company has expanded rapidly, with Orka and Mammoth just the beginning of their efforts to reduce atmospheric carbon levels.

Construction of the foundations for the maintenance floor at the Mammoth factory in Hellisheiði, Iceland, December 2022. Photo courtesy of Climeworks

Keeling Curve, a daily measurement from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, shows an atmospheric concentration of CO2 around 427 ppm, well above pre-industrial levels below 300 ppm.

An aerial view of the Mammoth Climeworks carbon capture plant as it nears its launch in December 2023. Photo: Climeworks
Workers at the Mammoth factory monitor progress shortly after the start of operations in May 2024. Photo courtesy of Climeworks
A worker stands next to a nearly completed CO2 collection container tower in December 2023. Photo courtesy of Climeworks

Climeworks is developing third-generation direct air capture technology for a large-scale facility in the US, paving the way for additional carbon capture plants worldwide.

Collector containers at Climeworks’ Mammoth Factory in Hellisheiði, Iceland, May 2024. Photo: Climeworks

By expanding with facilities like Orka and Mammoth, Climeworks aims to achieve megatonne-scale carbon removal capacity by 2030 and gigatonne-scale capacity by 2050.

While the impact on atmospheric carbon levels remains uncertain, the technology is expected to play a significant role in shaping the planet’s future over the coming decades.

Rendering of Climeworks’ proposed third-generation carbon capture plant in the United States. Photo courtesy of Climeworks

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Avian Influenza Detected in Chickens at Texas Factory, America’s Largest Raw Egg Producer Reports

Posted on by
Reply

The largest producer of raw eggs in the nation has announced a temporary halt in production at its Texas factory on Tuesday due to avian influenza. The virus has been found in chickens, and authorities have reported cases at a poultry facility in Michigan as well.

Calmaine Foods, headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi, has euthanized about 1.6 million hens and 337,000 hens, or roughly 3.6% of its flock, after avian influenza cases were discovered at its Palmer facility in Texas. The company stated that it has been sanctioned in Texas County.

The plant is situated on the Texas-New Mexico border in the Texas Panhandle, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Amarillo and 370 miles (595 kilometers) northwest of Dallas. CalMaine reported that most of its eggs are sold in the Southwest, Southeast, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.

The statement from the company mentioned, “We are collaborating closely with federal, state, and local authorities, as well as key industry organizations, to minimize the risk of further outbreaks and manage the response effectively.”

“Calmaine Foods is taking steps to ensure production from other facilities to mitigate any disruptions for customers,” the statement added.

The company clarified that there is no identified risk of avian influenza associated with eggs currently in the market, and no recalls have been issued for eggs.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, properly processed and cooked eggs are safe for consumption. The department confirmed.

A day after the announcement by Cal-Maine, state health officials revealed that one person had been diagnosed with bird flu after potential exposure to an infected cow, but the risk to the public remains low. Federal health officials stated that the human case in Texas is the first documented instance globally of someone contracting this strain of bird flu from a mammal.

In Michigan, avian influenza was detected at a commercial poultry facility in Ionia County by the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, as reported by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Ionia County is approximately 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.

The department confirmed the disease on Monday following laboratory tests, marking the fourth instance since 2022 that the illness was identified at a commercial site in Michigan.

Department spokesperson Jennifer Holton stated on Tuesday that state regulations prohibit the disclosure of poultry types at the facilities. The facility is under quarantine, but no disruptions to the state’s supply chain are anticipated, according to Holton.

Dairy cows in Texas and Kansas reported Federal agriculture officials subsequently confirmed the infection in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently acquired cattle from Texas. An Idaho dairy herd was also added to the list after federal agriculture officials confirmed the presence of avian influenza, according to a USDA press release on Tuesday.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Factory plans to leverage AI for streamlining the software development lifecycle

Posted on by
Reply

Developer velocity (the speed at which an organization ships code) is often influenced by necessary but time-consuming processes such as code reviews, documentation, and testing. Inefficiencies can make these processes even longer. according to According to one source, developers waste 17.3 hours a week on technical debt and bad code, or code that doesn’t work.

Machine learning Ph.D. Matan Greenberg and Eno Reyes, previously a data scientist at Hugging Face and Microsoft, thought there had to be a better way.

During a hackathon in San Francisco, Greenberg and Reyes built a platform that could autonomously solve simple coding problems. This is a platform they later came to believe had commercial potential. After the hackathon, the two expanded the platform to handle more software development tasks and founded a company. factoryto monetize what they built.

“Factory’s mission is to bring autonomy to software engineering,” Grinberg told TechCrunch in an email interview. “More specifically, Factory helps large engineering organizations automate parts of their software development lifecycle through AI-powered autonomous systems.”

Factory systems – Greenberg calls them “droids” in Lucasfilm terminology there may be a problem — Built to juggle a variety of repetitive, mundane, but typically time-consuming software engineering tasks. For example, Factory has “Droids” for reviewing code, refactoring or rebuilding code, and even generating new code from a prompt like GitHub Copilot.

Grinberg explains: “Reviews Droid leaves insightful code reviews, providing human reviewers with context for every change to the codebase. Documentation Droid generates documentation as needed and continuously updates it. Test Droid creates tests and maintains test coverage percentages as new code is merged. Droid knowledge resides in communication platforms (such as Slack) to answer deeper questions about engineering systems. Project Droid also helps you plan and design requirements based on customer support tickets and feature requests.”

Factory’s droids all have what Greenberg calls a “droid core,” an engine that ingests and processes a company’s engineering system data to build a knowledge base, and an engine that extracts insights from the knowledge base to perform various engineering tasks. It is built on algorithms that solve problems. . His third Droid core component, his Reflection Engine, acts as a filter for third-party AI models that Factory utilizes, allowing Factory to implement its own safety measures, security best practices, etc. based on these models. I will make it possible.

“The enterprise perspective here is that this will enable engineering organizations to output better products faster, while also boosting engineering morale by offloading tedious tasks such as code reviews, documentation, and testing. It’s a suite of software that makes it better,” Greenberg said. “Additionally, the autonomous nature of the droid requires little user education or onboarding.”

Now, if Factory can consistently and reliably automate all these development tasks, the platform will certainly pay for itself. According to 2019 investigation According to Tidelift and The New Stack, developers spend 35% of their time managing code, including testing and addressing security issues, and less than a third of their time actually coding.

But the question is, can it be done?

Even today’s best AI models can make fatal mistakes. Generative coding tools can also introduce insecure code, and a Stanford study found that software engineers who use code generation AI are more likely to introduce security vulnerabilities in the apps they develop. It is suggested.

Greenberg was candid about the fact that Factory doesn’t have the capital to train all its models in-house, so it’s at the mercy of third-party limitations. But while relying on third-party vendors for some of its AI capabilities, he argues that the Factory platform still provides value.

“Our approach is to build these AI systems and inference architectures, leverage cutting-edge models, establish relationships with customers, and deliver value now,” Greenberg said. Masu. “For early startups, training is a losing battle. [large] model. There is no financial advantage, no chip access advantage, no data advantage, and (almost certainly) no technological advantage compared to incumbents. ”

Factory long play teeth Greenberg said the company will further train its AI models to build an “end-to-end” engineering AI system and differentiate those models by collecting engineering training data from early customers.

“Over time, you have more capital. Chip shortage The problem is solved and we have direct access (with permission) to a treasure trove of data (i.e., the historical timeline of the entire engineering organization). ” he continued. “We build robust and fully autonomous droids with minimal human intervention, customizing them to our customers’ needs from day one.”

Is that too optimistic? perhaps. Competition in the AI ​​startup market is increasing day by day.

But to Greenberg’s credit, Factory already works with a core group of about 15 companies. Mr. Greenberg declined to name names, but the size of his clients, which have used Factor’s platform to date to perform thousands of code reviews and create hundreds of thousands of lines of code, is from “seed stage.” It covers a wide range of topics, including “public”.

And Factory recently closed a $5 million seed round co-led by Sequoia and Lux ​​with participation from SV Angel, BoxGroup, DataBricks CEO Ali Ghodsi, and Hugging Face co-founder Clem Delangue. Greenberg said the new funding will be used to expand Factory’s six-person team and platform capabilities.

“The main challenges in this AI code generation industry are trust and differentiation,” he said. “Every VP of Engineering wants to use AI to improve their organization’s outcomes. This is hindered by the unreliability of many AI tools and the lack of confidence that this new futuristic sound A large labyrinthine organization that refuses to trust its technology…Factory is building a world where software engineering itself is an accessible, scalable commodity.”

Source: techcrunch.com