Leonardo da Vinci’s programmable humanoid machine reconstructed in 2002 is commonly called Leonardo’s robot.
Leonardo designed the machine in 1495, probably for a spectacle at the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. It was dressed in armor and could perform human-like movements, including sitting, standing, and moving its arms. A system of cams and gears controlled the actions.
The robot was not an electronic machine and did not think or make decisions. It was a mechanical automaton: a device whose programmed mechanisms produce movement. Leonardo’s surviving drawings were incomplete, so modern researchers reconstructed the design by comparing sketches and applying knowledge of Renaissance mechanics.
The 2002 reconstruction by Mark Rosheim demonstrated that the concept could work. The device is often called an armored knight because of its appearance, but “Leonardo’s robot” identifies the reconstructed automaton more specifically. It belongs to the history of mechanical theater and automata, not artificial intelligence.