Figure AI faces a whistleblower lawsuit from its former Head of Product Safety, Robert Gruendel.
Gruendel alleges wrongful termination in September 2024 after raising safety concerns to executives, including CEO Brett Adcock. He warned Figure's robots "were powerful enough to fracture a human skull," citing a malfunction that "had already carved a ¼-inch gash into a steel refrigerator door." Gruendel's concerns, he claims, were "treated as obstacles, not obligations."
He further alleges Figure significantly altered the "product safety plan which contributed to their decision to invest" after presenting it to prospective investors. Gruendel warned leaders not to "downgrade" this plan, and argues that its subsequent alteration was so severe it "could be interpreted as fraudulent."
Figure AI maintains Gruendel was "terminated for poor performance" and promised to "thoroughly discredit" his claims in court. Gruendel is seeking economic, compensatory, and punitive damages.
If you’re interested in a deep dive into humanoid robotics, here’s a curated list of videos by Scott Walter @GoingBallistic5 and me, created over the last few months:
➡️ It’s All in the Hips: How hip design impacts a humanoid robot’s movement
https://t.co/2W5JywmPBX
➡️ Wuji Hand: What’s unique about its design?
https://t.co/FnE7rTSyDh
➡️ Walk This Way: Designing humanoid gait to move more like humans
https://t.co/AmUOJQfUAg
➡️ Why Novel Shoulder Designs Are Being Ignored
https://t.co/V7mFs1snuv
➡️ Ankle Deep: What is the Best Design for a Humanoid Ankle?
https://t.co/a3cIuyASou
➡️ Breakdown: What’s Inside Xpeng’s Next-Gen Iron Humanoid, Why It’s Impressive and What’s Missing**
https://t.co/5pE8CyiDpx
➡️ Unitree H2: Deep Dive
https://t.co/w9b9XYROSa
➡️ Scott Walter shares his thoughts after seeing a live demo of Figure 03 at Figure AI
https://t.co/c4482CuHyV
➡️This Drive Eliminates Backlash: Could the Archimedes Drive be a game-changer?
https://t.co/mmhJTNW9pK
In their latest video, Boston Dynamics’s AI team explains how they make the Atlas humanoid perceive and interact with the world.
Atlas uses an agile perception system to understand both the shape and context of objects in complex environments.
Atlas combines 2D and 3D awareness, keypoint-based localization, and an object pose tracking system that fuses vision, kinematics, and object knowledge to handle occlusion and uncertainty. Accurate calibration ensures precise hand–eye coordination for reliable manipulation.
The team is now working toward a unified model that merges perception and control – pushing beyond spatial AI toward physical intelligence.
Human-Robot Symbiosis
@MagicLab_Robot
2025 Scenario Launch Conference
26th March 19:00
This Humanoid robot ushers in a new chapter of Embodied intelligence
#Robot#MagicLab