What automatic machine did Leonardo da Vinci design in the form of a seated, armoured knight?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical knight, an automatic machine shaped like a seated, armoured warrior.

Leonardo created the design in 1495 for a pageant or court spectacle in Milan, probably under the patronage of Ludovico Sforza. The machine was intended to stand, sit, raise its visor, and move its arms through a system of cables, pulleys, and gears hidden inside an armored shell.

No original mechanical knight has survived, and there is no firm evidence that Leonardo completed the full machine. In 2002, roboticist Mark Rosheim built a working model based on Leonardo’s drawings. The reconstruction showed that the mechanism could reproduce several of the proposed movements.

The machine is often called Leonardo’s robot, but “robot” is a modern label: the word was not coined until the twentieth century. In its historical setting, the device was an automaton, meaning a self-moving mechanical figure made for entertainment, ceremony, or demonstration.