"Executive of 'Unitree Robotics USA' was fired simply for warning about 'product safety'?"
The American humanoid robotics startup Figure AI is facing a lawsuit from its former Chief Product Safety Officer, who claims he was illegally terminated after warning executives about product safety issues.
On Friday, Figure AI’s former Chief Product Safety Officer Robert Gruendel filed a lawsuit against the company in California, seeking monetary, compensatory, and punitive damages, along with a jury trial.
According to the lawsuit, Gruendel warned executives that the company’s robots were powerful enough to shatter a human skull, and that one robot had already created a quarter-inch crack in a steel refrigerator door during a malfunction. He was subsequently illegally terminated.
The lawsuit comes as Figure AI’s valuation is surging. The Nvidia-backed company completed a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital two months ago, reaching a valuation of $39 billion.
Whistleblower Allegations
The complaint details the plaintiff’s concerns about product safety.
Gruendel claims he warned the company’s CEO Brett Adcock and Chief Engineer Kyle Edelberg about the robots’ lethal capabilities.
The complaint also reveals that the plaintiff was asked to present a “safety roadmap” to two potential investors, both of which later participated in the investment.
Gruendel claims that in the same month Figure AI closed its funding round, the “product safety plan that had led to their investment decisions” was “weakened.” He worried this could “be construed as fraud.”
According to the complaint, Gruendel’s concerns were viewed by the company “as an obstacle rather than a responsibility,” and he was terminated on the grounds of a vague “change of business direction.”
Valuation Soared 15-Fold in a Year
The lawsuit coincides with Figure AI’s valuation surging.
Two months ago, the company reached a $39 billion valuation in a funding round—fifteen times the valuation at the start of 2024. Investors included Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft.
Reportedly, Gruendel’s attorney Robert Ottinger stated:
California law protects employees who report unsafe practices. This case involves important emerging issues, and may be among the first whistleblower cases related to humanoid robot safety. Mr. Gruendel looks forward to the legal process revealing the clear dangers to the public posed by the rush to market.
The humanoid robotics market is still in its early stages.
Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Figure AI are all pursuing future products, while China’s Unitree Robotics is preparing for an IPO.
Morgan Stanley stated in a May report that adoption in this market “may accelerate in the 2030s,” and its scale could exceed $5 trillion by 2050.
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