What name is given to Leonardo da Vinci’s human-shaped automaton built from articulated mechanisms?

Leonardo da Vinci’s human-shaped automaton is known as the mechanical knight.

Leonardo designed the mechanical knight around 1495 for a pageant at the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. The figure wore armor and used a system of pulleys, cables, gears, and articulated joints. Reconstructions based on Leonardo’s drawings suggest that it could sit, stand, raise its arms, and move its head and jaw.

The surviving evidence comes mainly from Leonardo’s notebooks, especially pages discovered and interpreted in the 20th century. No original mechanical knight has survived, and the historical record does not establish every movement it could perform.

Calling it a robot is convenient for modern readers, but “robot” is a later term. Leonardo’s automaton was powered by mechanical linkages rather than electricity or software, making “mechanical knight” the more historically precise name.