What Leonardo da Vinci mechanical figure is considered an early humanoid robot?

Leonardo da Vinci’s robot was a mechanical humanoid figure designed to sit, stand, and move its arms.

Leonardo created the design around 1495 while working in Milan. The mechanism was hidden inside a suit of armor and operated by cables and pulleys connected to a system of gears. Its movements were limited, but the figure could reproduce several human-like actions.

The machine is often called Leonardo’s robot or Leonardo’s mechanical knight. It was probably intended for a court entertainment or theatrical display rather than autonomous work. Unlike modern robots, it had no electronic controls, sensors, or programmable computer.

Leonardo’s notes were incomplete, so modern reconstructions have involved careful interpretation. A full-size reconstruction was displayed in Milan in 2002 after researchers studied the surviving drawings and mechanical details.