What Leonardo da Vinci automaton was designed in the shape of a medieval knight?

Leonardo da Vinci’s mechanical knight was a humanoid automaton designed in the shape of a medieval armoured knight.

Leonardo’s drawings for the device date to around 1495 and are associated with preparations for a festival in Milan organized under Ludovico Sforza. Internal cables, pulleys, and gears were intended to make the figure sit, stand, raise its arms, and move its head and jaw.

The machine was not an artificial intelligence system or a self-aware robot. It was a mechanical automaton operated by stored motion and linkages. Leonardo’s surviving notes do not prove that the complete knight was built, although modern reconstructions based on his designs have demonstrated plausible movement.

The mechanical knight is distinct from Leonardo’s self-propelled cart. The cart was a wheeled vehicle with programmed steering, while the knight was a human-shaped entertainment and engineering device.