It may have been developed with lftier goals, but Atlas, a terrifying 6 foot 2 robot developed by Google's Boston Dynamics spinoff, hasbeen taught to help around the house.

The robot, which competed in the US Military's 'Robot Olympics' can now hoover, sweep and even throw a paper plane into the trash.

Researchers in Florida revealed the upgrade in a video.

Scroll down for video

The 6 foot robot, which competed in the US Military's 'Robot Olympics' can now hoover, sweep and even throw a paper plane into the trash.

THE ATLAS ROBOT According to Boston Dynamics, Atlas is a 'high mobility, humanoid robot designed to negotiate outdoor, rough terrain. 'Atlas can walk bipedally leaving the upper limbs free to lift, carry, and manipulate the environment. 'In extremely challenging terrain, Atlas is strong and coordinated enough to climb using hands and feet, to pick its way through congested spaces.' Advertisement

The video simply has the title 'Atlas robot at IHMC demonstrating whole-body coordinated motions' despite the unique movements.

However, the team say the video was created as a joke to show off test code the team came up with.

'Atlas needs to be run often to make sure that code updates don’t break anything, and running the same tasks over and over again gets boring,' John Carff, ATLAS robot operator at IHMC, told IEEE Spectrum.

'Most of the stuff in this video is controlled by me, but in a co-active way.

'I’m not simply sitting there with a joystick teleoperating the robot: I tell the robot through the UI that I want to grab a bottle off the table by clicking the bottle and making sure that the resulting hand is in the correct place.

'Then, the robot tells me how it’s going to move its entire body to reach that location, through a preview in the UI.

'If I’m okay with the plan the robot has come up with, I tell it to execute that motion.

'In the future, I can see a lot of what was done in this video moving more to the autonomous side, but I always see there being a human in the loop.'

The video also reveals the robot wielding a broom and sweeping the floor

The team has previously recreated the 'crane kick' from the Karate Kid movie.

The researchers taught the robot to stand on one leg - recreating a key scene from the film in the process.

The Atlas robot created by Google-owned firm Boston Dynamics is a formidable figure at 6ft 2in tall and weighing in at 330lb.

The robot boasts 28 hydraulically actuated joints and stereo vision, and is one of the most advanced robots ever created.

It is also shown moving furniture around as it 'cleans'

However, it's not just karate - Ian has another trick up his sleeve - software written by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Interaction which allows him to drive a car.

The Atlas robot has already shown it can walk, jump and even drive a car

'To achieve this level of maneuverability in robots, researchers at IHMC look toward nature,' the team say.

'Inspired by the speed of cheetahs, the endurance of horses, the maneuverability of monkeys, and the versatility of humans, IHMC researchers are on a quest to develop legged robots that are fast, efficient, and graceful, with the mobility required to access many of the same places that humans can.'

At the US Government's Robo-Olympics, Ian came second, despite competing as a virtual software simulation.

Despite his lack of limbs, the world's most innocuously named 'bot was able to walk, carry a fire hose and, most impressively, get in a car and drive it.

The 'crane' stance, being held by Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (played by Ralph Maccio left) in the 1984 film inspired the latest movements of the Atlas robot. It demonstrates strong balancing skills and composure and showcases the agility of the Google-owned machine, said the firm

Atlas is a high mobility, humanoid robot designed to negotiate outdoor, rough terrain, Boston Dynamics said.

'Atlas can walk bipedally leaving the upper limbs free to lift, carry, and manipulate the environment. In extremely challenging terrain, Atlas is strong and coordinated enough to climb using hands and feet, to pick its way through congested spaces.

The researchers taught the robot the trick to show off its balance.

The Atlas robot has an articulated sensor head includes stereo cameras and a laser range finder so it can 'see' where it is going.

'Articulated, sensate hands will enable Atlas to use tools designed for human use. Atlas includes 28 hydraulically-actuated degrees of freedom, two hands, arms, legs, feet and a torso.

'An articulated sensor head includes stereo cameras and a laser range finder.'