What mechanical figure did Leonardo da Vinci design to sit, wave, and move its arms?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a robotic knight, a human-shaped mechanical figure driven by cables and pulleys.

Leonardo prepared the design in 1495 for a pageant in Milan sponsored by Ludovico Sforza. The armored figure was intended to sit, stand, raise its visor, and move its arms. Its internal system used mechanical components arranged inside a knight’s armor, making it an early example of a humanoid automaton.

The original machine has not survived, and historical records do not confirm that Leonardo’s planned robot was completed or publicly operated. In the early 2000s, engineer Mark Rosheim studied Leonardo’s drawings and built reconstructions that demonstrated many of the proposed movements.

The robotic knight is sometimes called Leonardo’s robot, but it was not an electronic robot in the modern sense. It had no computer, motor, or programmable software; its actions came from Renaissance mechanical engineering.