Figure AI former safety chief sues for termination over robot deadly harm warning

Figure AI is facing a federal lawsuit after its former head of product safety said he was fired for warning leaders that the company’s humanoid robots were strong enough to break a human skull.

The suit was filed Friday in the Northern District of California by Robert Gruendel, who worked as a principal robotic safety engineer. His lawyers said he was removed in September, just days after he sent what he called his most direct and fully documented safety complaints.

He said he raised alarms about dangerous behavior he saw inside the company’s labs and pushed executives to take the risks seriously.

The lawsuit arrived two months after Figure reached a massive $39 billion valuation in a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. That jump marked a 15‑times increase from early 2024.

Investors in that earlier round included Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Gruendel’s filing said he was asked to brief two potential investors about Figure’s safety plan, and those investors later chose to put money into the company.

He said he was then shocked to see that the same plan he had shown them was changed, and he warned his superiors not to downgrade it.

Figure denies whistleblower’s allegations while legal fight moves forward

In the complaint, Gruendel said he told CEO Brett Adcock and chief engineer Kyle Edelberg that the robots could cause deadly harm. He said one robot had already carved a quarter‑inch cut into a steel refrigerator door during a malfunction.

His lawyers said he feared the company might mislead investors because the safety plan those investors saw was later “gutted,” and he said this could be seen as fraudulent.

He said his warnings were treated as problems instead of duties. According to him, the company used what he called a vague “change in business direction” to justify firing him.

Gruendel is seeking economic, compensatory, and punitive damages. He also wants a jury trial. A Figure spokesperson responded through email and said Gruendel was terminated for poor performance.

The spokesperson said his claims were “falsehoods” and that the company will push back against them in court. Gruendel’s attorney, Robert Ottinger, told CNBC that California law protects workers who report unsafe practices.

He said the case may be one of the first whistleblower lawsuits tied to safety concerns about humanoid robots. He added that Gruendel expects the court process to reveal the danger he believes comes from rushing these machines into the market.

The wider humanoid robot market is still very early, with companies like Tesla and Boston Dynamics developing new machines and China’s Unitree Robotics preparing for an IPO. A May report from Morgan Stanley said adoption could speed up in the 2030s and possibly cross $5 trillion by 2050.

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