Leonardo da Vinci designed his robotic knight in 1495.
The machine was created during Leonardo’s Milanese period, when he worked for Ludovico Sforza. It was intended for a court entertainment or pageant and was built inside a suit of armor. The mechanism used cables and pulleys operated by a system of gears, allowing the figure to carry out limited humanlike motions.
The year 1495 places the project near several important works from Leonardo’s Milan years. He was also developing military machines, theatrical devices, and studies of anatomy and mechanics during this period. The robotic knight therefore reflects both court spectacle and Leonardo’s engineering interests.
The surviving design evidence was not widely understood until modern scholars examined Leonardo’s notebooks and reconstructed the mechanism. Because no original machine survives, the date refers to the design and reported project, not to a surviving completed artifact.