Meet ATLAS, DARPA’s Latest Humanoid Robot

He’s 6ft 2in, weighs in at 330 pounds and packs a mighty punch.

DARPA has just unveiled ATLAS, one of the most advanced humanoid robots ever built.

His arms stretch wider than a car and he can walk up stairs, stay upright after getting hit with heavy objects and maneuver around obstacles in his path.

Atlas has been developed by Boston Dynamics and will be competing in DARPA’s Robotics Challenge in Miami in December 2013.

But it’s not all fun and games for ATLAS and there is a serious side to DARPA’s robotics program.

The Challenge aims to advance the technology necessary to create robots capable of assisting first responders in times of disaster.

Gill Pratt, program manager for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, said: "We have dramatically raised the expectations for robotic capabilities with this Challenge, and brought together a diverse group of teams to compete.

"The Virtual Robotics Challenge was a proving ground for teams' ability to create software to control a robot in a hypothetical scenario. The DRC Simulator tasks were fairly accurate representations of real world causes and effects, but the experience wasn't quite the same as handling an actual, physical robot."

Watch ATLAS in action in the video below.