The mechanical figure designed by Leonardo da Vinci for a 1495 court spectacle is known as Leonardo’s robot.
Leonardo created the design while working for Ludovico Sforza in Milan. The machine was dressed in armor and built around a system of pulleys, cables, and gears. According to modern reconstructions, it could sit, stand, raise its arms, and move its head and jaw.
The figure was probably an automaton rather than a robot in the modern electronic sense. It had no computer, sensors, or electric motor; its motions came from mechanical components and a human-prepared sequence.
The original device has not survived, and no contemporary record definitively describes a public demonstration. Engineers and historians reconstructed the design in the 21st century from Leonardo’s notes and related anatomical studies. The project shows how his knowledge of human movement informed both artistic work and mechanical experimentation.