What did Leonardo da Vinci design that is widely called the first robotic humanoid?

Leonardo da Vinci designed what is widely called Leonardo's robot, a mechanical humanoid created around 1495.

The design was probably made for a pageant at the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Leonardo's surviving notes and drawings show a knight in armor that could sit, stand, move its arms, and operate its jaw. A modern reconstruction by Mark Rosheim demonstrated that the mechanism could perform several of these actions.

The machine was not an electronic robot in the modern sense. It used cables, pulleys, gears, and a programmable control system based on rotating cams. Leonardo's interest in anatomy, movement, and mechanical power shaped the design. The full original device has not survived, so historians distinguish between the documented design and later reconstructions. It is often described as an early humanoid automaton rather than a modern autonomous robot.