What self-moving cart did Leonardo da Vinci design as an early programmable machine?

Leonardo da Vinci’s early programmable self-moving machine was the self-propelled cart.

Leonardo designed the cart around 1478–1480. Springs wound by hand supplied its power, while a system of gears controlled movement. Pegs placed in the mechanism could determine the route, making the cart an early example of programmable automation rather than simply a wheeled vehicle.

The original drawings do not provide every construction detail, so later reconstructions have been important for understanding how the mechanism may have worked. In 2006, a replica built by the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence demonstrated that the cart could move as intended.

The machine is sometimes described as a robot, although that label can be misleading. It was not humanoid and did not sense its environment. Its importance comes from combining stored mechanical energy with programmed motion. The same principle later appeared in theatrical automata and clockwork devices.