Safety
A former Figure robot safety engineer sued the company in federal court in California. He says he was fired after warning the robots were strong enough to fracture a human skull. Figure says he was let go for poor performance.
A crash, recall, injury or investigation
What the source says
“The case has been filed in the Northern District of California by Robert Gruendel, a principal robotic safety engineer.”
What it means
Figure 03, from Figure AI, is at stage 3 of 5 on our ladder: pilot. Safety events don't move a stage on their own, but they stay on the robot's record.
Human help: The maker hasn't said whether people help it remotely.
More on Figure 03
- Figure retired most of its older Figure 02 robots as its Figure 03 fleet grew.
- Figure tested its robot in 30 Bay Area homes it had never seen. Figure says its best AI version succeeded on 56% of tries.
- BMW started a Figure 03 project at Spartanburg, where the robot picks and sorts parts for the assembly line.
- Figure announced a commercial agreement with Catalyst Brands, owner of JCPenney, starting at its Reno, Nevada distribution center. No robot count was given.
- Figure said its BotQ factory had delivered over 350 Figure 03 robots. It said these went to its own research and development teams.
- BMW confirmed that the earlier model, Figure 02, helped build more than 30,000 BMW X3 cars over 10 months at its Spartanburg plant, placing sheet-metal parts for welding.