Toyota Research Institute

Toyota's research arm building Large Behavior Models that drive Boston Dynamics' Atlas

Division of Toyota Motor Corporation · No humanoid status · Robot foundation model · Toyota City, Aichi, Japan · Founded 2015 · tri.global

Part of Toyota Motor Corporation.

Also active in United States.

Unverified Map pin uses Toyota HQ (Toyota City); TRI itself is headquartered in Los Altos, CA. TRI news date approximate; CEO from general knowledge.

Profile

Toyota Research Institute (based in Los Altos, California, under Toyota of Japan) leads Toyota's robot-learning work. With Boston Dynamics it built a 450M-parameter Large Behavior Model that controls Atlas's whole body from language prompts.

People

• GP
  Gill Pratt

  Chief Executive Officer

  Toyota also lists him as its Chief Scientist and Executive Fellow for Research.

Sources: Toyota Research Institute about page · Toyota Form 6-K: changes to board members and executive structure · As of Oct 8, 2026. X handles are shown only when we could confirm they belong to the person.

Flagship products

• Large Behavior Models (LBMs) AI model
  Language-conditioned diffusion-transformer policies; whole-body Atlas control with Boston Dynamics

Market & financials

Competitors

Companies with overlapping products. Direct = same customers and same job; Adjacent = overlapping technology or market, different focus.

• Skild AI

  Adjacent competitor

  USRobot foundation model

  Both train large behavior models for robots: Skild AI builds Skild Brain, a foundation model meant to run on any robot body, while Toyota Research Institute builds the Large Behavior Models that drive Boston Dynamics' Atlas.

  Sources (2)

  • AI-powered robot by Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute (TRI)
  • Skild AI (company website)

• Physical Intelligence

  Adjacent competitor

  USRobot foundation model

  Both train large behavior models for robots: Physical Intelligence builds the general-purpose π robot foundation models, while Toyota Research Institute builds the Large Behavior Models that drive Boston Dynamics' Atlas.

  Sources (2)

  • AI-powered robot by Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute (TRI)
  • Physical Intelligence (company website)

• Google DeepMind (Gemini Robotics)

  Adjacent competitor

  GBRobot foundation model

  Both develop AI models for robots and have worked with humanoid makers: Google DeepMind develops the Gemini Robotics models, used by partners such as Apptronik, while Toyota Research Institute builds the Large Behavior Models that drive Boston Dynamics' Atlas.

  Sources (2)

  • AI-powered robot by Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute (TRI)
  • Gemini Robotics 2 brings whole body intelligence to robots (Google DeepMind)

Recent news

• Aug 20, 2025 — TRI and Boston Dynamics demonstrate LBM-driven whole-body Atlas TRI

From SEC filings

Robotics-related passages from SEC filings, newest first. Filed by Toyota Motor Corporation.

• 6-KCurrent reportFiled Jun 17, 2026EDGAR

  Scope Executive-structure changes; the only robotics-related item is the TRI leadership entry.

  • Gill Pratt continues as Toyota's Chief Scientist and Executive Fellow for Research, with Toyota Research Institute.

    Gill A. Pratt Chief Scientist and Executive Fellow for Research Toyota Research Institute, Inc.

    Exhibit 99.1, notification of changes to board members and executive structure
• 20-FAnnual reportPeriod ended Mar 31, 2026 · Filed Jun 10, 2026EDGAR

  Scope Annual report for the fiscal year ended March 2026; only the TRI and robotics passages are summarized.

  • Toyota says TRI is developing AI robots meant to work alongside people rather than replace them.

    In addition, Toyota Research Institute, Inc. (“TRI”) is taking on the challenge of developing AI robots that work and grow together with humans as partners, rather than simply replacing them.

    Item 4. Information on the Company

  • Toyota is using Woven City to speed up demonstrations of these technologies.

    To accelerate demonstrations and the advancement of these technologies, we are leveraging Woven City, a mobility test course.

    Item 4. Information on the Company

Source: SEC EDGAR · Quotes checked word for word against the filing · As of Oct 8, 2026.

Sources

• AI-powered robot by Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute takes a key step towards general-purpose humanoids (TRI) (Aug 20, 2025)
• Large behavior models and Atlas find new footing (Boston Dynamics) (Oct 8, 2026)

Confidence: medium.

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