A former engineer at the humanoid robotics firm Figure AI has sued the company, alleging they were fired for raising a critical safety issue, CNBC reports.
The principal robotic safety engineer, Robert Gruendel, had warned top executives in September — including CEO Brett Adcock and chief engineer Kyle Edelberg — that the robots “were powerful enough to fracture a human skull,” according to the suit, which was filed Friday in a federal court in California.
It sounds like he had compelling evidence. In a harrowing close call, one robot narrowly missed striking an employee when it suddenly malfunctioned and punched a refrigerator, leaving a “-inch deep gash” in the appliance’s “stainless-steel door,” the suit claims.
Days after raising these issues with Adcock and Edelberg, Gruendel was fired.
The lawsuit comes as Figure continues to cement its place as a leader in the humanoid robotics industry, which is currently riding high on a lot of yet-to-be fulfilled potential. Morgan Stanley estimated that androids could be a $5 trillion market by 2050, and it’s this enthusiasm that fueled Figure’s $39 billion valuation during a funding round in September, with major investments coming from Parkway Venture Capital and ever-present AI financier Nvidia.
Long before the firing, Gruendel alleges that he was slowly iced out by Adcock, who took less and less frequent meetings with him; weekly safety meetings became bi-weekly, then monthly, then quarterly. On several occasions, Gruendel...
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