A new artificial intelligence company is working to help American factories bring products from design to production faster.
Arda, which launched Oct. 20, 2026, is developing AI-powered software that turns product designs into assembly plans and updates those plans as designs change.
The technology aims to help manufacturers adapt production processes more quickly, reducing the time between designing a product and making it. Led by former OpenAI chief research officer Bob McGrew, Arda has raised $232 million, is valued at $1.5 billion, and plans to expand into robotic assembly, developing AI that could allow automated production lines to adapt to new designs in days rather than months.
Among the company’s founding researchers is 2024 Hertz Fellow Owen Dugan, who joined Arda in January as the first AI hire. During his first weeks at Arda, he built a demo that became Arda’s first product.
“I joined Arda because I wanted to help American factories build faster. The Hertz Fellowship gave me the freedom to take a bet on a young company and the confidence that bold ideas are worth pursuing,” said Dugan. “Strengthening American manufacturing is one way I hope to honor the Hertz Fellows’ moral commitment to help the country in times of need.”
Dugan will present his recent AI model research at NeurIPS 2026 in Sydney on a framework for jointly training incrementally refinable Transformer widths with restart-free adaptive inference.
“Strengthening American manufacturing is one way I hope to honor the Hertz Fellows’ moral commitment to help the country in times of need.”
Dugan holds patents for algorithms that remove satellite trails from astronomical images, addressing a growing challenge for astronomers as more satellites enter orbit. He also co-founded a startup developing technology to verify the authenticity of digital images. These projects applied computational research to practical problems, experience he now brings to Arda, where he works alongside researchers and engineers from MIT, Palantir and Tesla to develop AI-powered manufacturing technology.
Dugan was one of 18 Hertz Fellows selected in 2024. The Hertz Fellowship is the nation’s most competitive doctoral fellowship in the applied sciences, engineering and mathematics. Awarded through a rigorous selection process honed over eight decades, Hertz Fellows receive up to five years of funding, providing the rare freedom to pursue bold ideas and a community of influential peers dedicated to their success.
Dugan’s involvement reflects a longstanding tradition of entrepreneurship within the Hertz Fellow community, where researchers apply their scientific expertise to build companies, develop new technologies and bring innovative ideas into practical use.
Throughout its history, the Hertz Foundation has supported generations of scientific entrepreneurs. Hertz Fellows have founded hundreds of companies, earned thousands of patents and made significant contributions to the nation’s economy.
The Hertz Foundation continues to foster entrepreneurship through career support, mentorship, and up to $25,000 in funding through the Harold Newman and David Galas Entrepreneurial Initiative.
About the Hertz Foundation
The Hertz Foundation is the nation’s preeminent nonprofit organization committed to advancing American scientific and technological leadership. For more than 60 years, it has stood as an unwavering pillar of independent support through the renowned Hertz Fellowship, cultivating a multidisciplinary network of innovators whose work has positively impacted millions of lives. Learn more at hertzfoundation.org.
