What automated vehicle did Leonardo da Vinci design that is often called the world’s first robot?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a spring-powered self-propelled cart that is often described as an early programmable automaton.

Leonardo’s drawings from around 1478 show a three-wheeled cart powered by coiled springs. Cams and other mechanical parts controlled its movement, allowing the cart to travel along a predetermined path rather than being continuously pushed by a person.

The machine is commonly called Leonardo’s robot, although that label is modern and can be misleading. It was not an electronic robot and could not make decisions or sense its surroundings. It was a mechanical automaton whose actions were set by its construction.

In 2006, a team associated with the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence built a working reconstruction. The device is significant because its programmable mechanical motion predates modern robotics by centuries, even though the original drawing leaves some construction details uncertain.