What Leonardo da Vinci mechanism is often called a robotic knight?

Leonardo da Vinci's robot was a humanoid automaton designed to sit, stand, raise its arms, and move its head and jaw.

Leonardo designed the mechanism in 1495 for a pageant in Milan organized for the court of Ludovico Sforza. The robot wore armor modeled on a medieval German-Italian knight. Internal pulleys, cables, and gears translated the movement of an external control system into actions by the figure.

No original robot survives, and historical evidence does not prove exactly how much of the design was built or how it performed. In 2002, roboticist Mark Rosheim constructed a working interpretation based on Leonardo's notes and drawings. That reconstruction helped demonstrate that the mechanism could carry out several of the movements shown in the design.

Calling it a modern robot is anachronistic, because Leonardo's machine was a mechanical automaton rather than an electronic programmable device. Still, it is a notable early example of a human-shaped machine.