Overview
- Robert Gruendel, Figure’s former principal product safety engineer, filed a California lawsuit alleging he was fired after documenting risks posed by the company’s humanoid robots.
- His complaint says he warned leaders the machines were powerful enough to fracture a human skull and cites a malfunction that cut a quarter-inch gash into a steel refrigerator door.
- The filing alleges executives removed key elements from a safety roadmap shown to prospective investors before a September round that put Figure’s valuation near $39 billion.
- Figure says the allegations are false and that Gruendel was terminated for poor performance, pledging to challenge the claims in court.
- Gruendel seeks economic, compensatory, and punitive damages and a jury trial, with his attorney calling it a potential early whistleblower case on humanoid-robot safety.