5/28/2026 Jeni Bushman
ECE Professor Joohyung Kim and CS Professor Yuxiong Wang receive Toyota Research Institute funding to advance robotics, multimodal sensing, and AI-driven robot learning.
Written by Jeni Bushman
Two faculty members from The Grainger College of Engineering have received funding from the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) in the next phase of a university-industry collaboration program, the company announced Monday.
Electrical and computer engineering associate professor Joohyung Kim and assistant professor of computer science Yuxiong Wang are among 104 faculty members in the TRI University Research Program (URP) 3.0, which funds collaborative research projects jointly led by university researchers and TRI co-investigators. Kim’s three-year, $1.1 million award will support his newest project, “Expanding Large Behavior Models with Whole-Body Multimodal Sensing Across Embodiments.” An expansion of his previous work with URP 2.0, Kim’s latest initiative seeks to extend multimodal sensing from localized manipulation to whole-body sensing as a foundation for cross-embodiment AI.
“Our goal is to create robots that can seamlessly transfer skills across different embodiments, including humanoids, by leveraging multimodal data in Vision-Language-Action Models and Large Behavior Model architectures,” Kim said.
Wang’s project, “Towards Hybrid Neural Simulators: Unifying Generative Models and Physics Engines for Robot Learning,” will pioneer hybrid neural simulators that seamlessly blend the adaptability of data-driven AI with the governing physical laws of traditional engineering.
“Current robot learning platforms face an inherent trade-off, forcing a choice between visually rich but physically unreliable video generators, or highly precise but rigid and labor-intensive traditional simulators,” Wang said. “By creating virtual training environments that are both highly realistic and physically accurate, our integrated framework will fundamentally accelerate how general-purpose robots safely learn to navigate, manipulate, and master the real world.”
According to the Toyota Research Institute, the University Research Program has grown into one of the largest collaborative research efforts in the automotive industry. Its programs aim to achieve practical solutions through sustained hands-on, curiosity-driven and collaborative research work. The 5-year URP 3.0 phase will center technologies advancing energy and materials, human-centered AI, advanced driving and robotics.
Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Joohyung Kim is an Illinois Grainger Engineering associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is affiliated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory.
Yuxiong Wang is an Illinois Grainger Engineering assistant professor in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science.