What Leonardo da Vinci machine was designed as a mechanical knight in armor?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a robot knight as a mechanical figure wearing armor.

Leonardo developed the concept for a Milanese court celebration around 1495. The machine was enclosed in a suit of armor and operated by cables, pulleys, and a system of gears. Reconstructions based on his sketches indicate that it could sit, stand, move its arms, and move its jaw.

The robot knight was not a programmable electronic robot. It was an automaton, meaning a machine designed to perform movements through mechanical power and timed mechanisms. Leonardo's surviving notes show his interest in human anatomy, mechanical transmission, and the theatrical effect of lifelike motion.

The original machine has not survived, and historians cannot prove every movement attributed to it. However, the design is supported by drawings in the Codex Atlanticus, and modern builders have produced working reconstructions using those plans.