What human-shaped machine did Leonardo da Vinci design in 1495 to imitate a soldier?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical knight in 1495 to imitate a soldier.

The machine was created for a pageant at the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Leonardo’s notes describe an armored figure operated by a system of pulleys, cables, and gears. The mechanism could reportedly sit, stand, move its arms, and raise its visor, although the surviving evidence is based on drawings and reconstructions rather than a complete original machine.

The device is often called Leonardo’s robot, but that modern term can be misleading. It was a mechanical automaton, not an electronic robot. In 2002, Mark Rosheim built a working model based on Leonardo’s surviving sketches.