What robotic invention did Leonardo da Vinci design for a 1495 court celebration in Milan?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical knight for a 1495 court celebration in Milan.

The device was probably created for a pageant organized by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Leonardo’s drawings show an armored figure operated by an internal system of pulleys, cables, gears, and levers. It could reportedly sit, stand, move its arms, and move its jaw.

The machine is often called Leonardo’s robot, but “mechanical knight” is the more descriptive name for its appearance. It was not an autonomous robot in the modern electronic sense: its movements came from mechanical controls and human preparation.

In 2002, engineer Mark Rosheim built a working reconstruction based on Leonardo’s surviving sketches. That reconstruction helped demonstrate that the mechanism’s basic movements were mechanically feasible.