Overview
- Robert Gruendel, the company’s former head of product safety, filed the suit in the Northern District of California and is seeking economic, compensatory and punitive damages along with a jury trial.
- He alleges Figure’s humanoid robots can exert forces capable of fracturing a human skull and cites a malfunction that left a quarter‑inch gash in a steel refrigerator door.
- The complaint claims a detailed safety roadmap shown to prospective investors was later weakened after a major funding round, a change he warned could be interpreted as fraudulent.
- Gruendel’s attorneys say he was fired in September days after lodging his most direct and documented safety complaints to senior leadership.
- Figure AI disputes the allegations, saying Gruendel was terminated for poor performance and that his claims misrepresent the company’s work, with the litigation now at the complaint stage.