Asia Tech Wire (Oct 17) -- Toyota Research Institute (TRI), a unit of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor, and Boston Dynamics, a unit of South Korea's Hyundai Motor, announced Wednesday a partnership to advance robotics research.

The research partnership aims to accelerate the development of general-purpose humanoid robots utilizing TRI's Large Behavior Models and Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot, Toyota said in a statement.

Atlas is a robot with "extreme mobility" and bimanual manipulation, while TRI has made groundbreaking advances in the field of diffusion strategies, successfully applying generative artificial intelligence (AI) for the first time to enhance dexterous robot manipulation.

Established in 2016, TRI has offices in Los Altos, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.