What human-shaped machine did Leonardo da Vinci design for a 1495 court spectacle?

The human-shaped machine Leonardo da Vinci designed for a 1495 court spectacle was the mechanical knight.

Leonardo created the design while serving Ludovico Sforza in Milan. The machine was built inside a suit of armor and used a system of pulleys, cables, and gears to imitate human movements. It could reportedly sit, stand, move its arms, and raise its visor. The design reflects Leonardo’s detailed study of anatomy and his interest in transferring body mechanics into machines.

The original machine did not survive, and historians reconstructed its appearance from Leonardo’s notes and drawings. In 2002, roboticist Mark Rosheim built a modern working interpretation based on the surviving evidence.

The mechanical knight is often called Leonardo’s robot, but that label can suggest modern electronics or artificial intelligence. It was a mechanical automaton powered by human-prepared mechanical energy, not a programmable computer.