Leonardo da Vinci designed a robot knight for a Milan court pageant.
Leonardo's mechanical knight was probably created around 1495 for festivities connected with the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. The machine wore armor and was designed to perform humanlike movements, including sitting, standing, moving its arms, and operating its jaw. Cables and pulleys inside the armor translated motion from a crank-driven mechanism.
No complete original robot knight survives, and the historical evidence does not prove exactly how much of the machine was built or performed. In 2002, roboticist Mark Rosheim constructed a working model based on Leonardo's drawings and notes.
The robot is important because it shows Leonardo treating anatomy as a mechanical system. It is often called one of the earliest humanoid robots, though that modern term describes its function rather than its Renaissance name.