What humanoid machine did Leonardo da Vinci design with armor and moving limbs?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical knight with armor and moving limbs.

The automaton was planned for a 1495 celebration in Milan organized under the patronage of Ludovico Sforza. Drawings show an armored figure whose internal system of cables, pulleys and gears could produce movements such as sitting, standing and moving its arms.

The machine is often called Leonardo’s robot, although that modern word was not used in Renaissance Italy. It was a mechanical automaton powered by human-set mechanisms, not an electronic robot with sensors or software. No original machine has survived.

In the 21st century, engineers built reconstructions from Leonardo’s drawings. These reconstructions helped show that the design could plausibly move, while also revealing that some details had to be interpreted because Leonardo’s surviving sketches are incomplete.