Startup Figure AI is developing general-purpose humanoid robots.
Diagram AI
Figure AI, NvidiaThe company, which is backed by a developer of humanoid robots, has been sued by its former head of product safety, alleging he was wrongfully fired after warning executives that its robots were “strong enough to crush a human skull.”
Chief robot safety engineer Robert Grundel is the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in the Northern District of California. Gruendel’s lawyer describes his client as a whistleblower who was fired in September just days after filing “the most direct and documented safety complaint.”
The lawsuit was filed two months after Figure was valued at $39 billion in a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. This represents a 15x increase in valuation since early 2024, when the company raised a round from investors including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft.
Grundel’s lawyers said in the complaint that the plaintiff warned Figure CEO Brett Adcock and chief engineer Kyle Edelberg about the robot’s lethal capabilities, saying the robot had “already carved a quarter-inch gash into the steel refrigerator door during its malfunction.”
The complaint also says Mr. Grundel warned company executives not to “downgrade” a “safety roadmap” they were required to present to two potential investors who would ultimately fund the company.
Grundel is concerned that the “product safety plan that contributed to the investment decision” was “discarded” in the same month that Figure closed the investment round, a practice that “could be construed as fraudulent,” the complaint says.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff’s concerns were “treated as an obstacle rather than an obligation,” and the company cited a “vague ‘change in business direction'” as a pretext for firing the plaintiff.
Mr. Grundel is seeking economic, compensatory and punitive damages and is requesting a jury trial.
A Figure spokesperson said in an emailed statement that Mr. Grundel was “terminated due to poor performance” and that “the allegations are false and Mr. Figure will be thoroughly discredited in court.”
“California law protects employees who report unsafe conduct,” Robert Oettinger, Grundel’s attorney, told CNBC in a statement.
“This case involves important new issues and could be one of the first whistleblowing cases regarding the safety of humanoid robots,” Ottinger said. “Mr. Grundel looks forward to a judicial proceeding that will reveal the clear dangers this rushed approach to the market poses to the public.”
The humanoid robot market is still in its infancy, with companies such as: tesla Boston Dynamics is pursuing futuristic products alongside figures, and China’s Unitree Robotics is preparing for an IPO. Morgan Stanley said in a May report that adoption is “likely to accelerate in the 2030s” and could exceed $5 trillion by 2050.
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