What mechanical knight did Leonardo da Vinci design for a Milanese festival in 1495?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical knight, commonly called Leonardo’s robot, for a Milanese festival in 1495.

The machine was dressed in armor and controlled by cables and pulleys inside its body. Reconstructions indicate that it could sit, stand, raise its arms, and move its jaw. Leonardo based the mechanism on his studies of human anatomy and the proportions of the body.

The robot was probably created for a pageant organized by Ludovico Sforza, although surviving records do not provide a complete account of its public performance. Leonardo’s drawings were rediscovered in the twentieth century by robotics researcher Carlo Pedretti.

In 2002, engineer Mario Taddei built a working replica from Leonardo’s plans. The machine is best understood as a clockwork automaton, not an artificial-intelligence robot. Its programmable movement came from mechanical linkages rather than software or electricity.