What Leonardo da Vinci invention was a wheeled armored machine designed for battle?

Leonardo da Vinci’s armored vehicle was a wheeled, conical battle machine designed for combat.

Leonardo designed the vehicle around 1487 for Ludovico Sforza, the ruler of Milan. Its sloping wooden shell was intended to deflect enemy fire, while guns projected through openings around the perimeter. The vehicle was large enough to shelter several soldiers and was shaped somewhat like a truncated cone.

The design is commonly described as a tank precursor, although it lacked a modern engine, tracks, and a practical steering system. A famous drawing shows internal cranks and gears, but the gear arrangement would make the vehicle difficult or impossible to move as drawn. Some historians think this may have been deliberate, because Leonardo sometimes presented military designs to impress patrons without revealing every detail.

The armored vehicle remains significant as an early attempt to combine protection, mobility, and concentrated firepower in one machine.