Leonardo da Vinci designed a robot knight for a Milan court celebration. The humanoid machine was created around 1495 for festivities connected with the court of Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo’s principal patron in Milan.
Leonardo’s sketches show an armored figure whose internal system of cables, pulleys, and gears could move the arms, raise the visor, and sit or stand. The mechanism used anatomical observations translated into mechanical linkages, making it an early example of a humanoid automaton concept.
No original robot survives, and scholars cannot confirm exactly how much of the machine was built or how it performed. In 2002, engineer Mark Rosheim constructed a working model based on Leonardo’s drawings.
The robot knight is often called a modern robot’s ancestor, but it was not programmable in the contemporary electronic sense. It was a mechanical automaton designed for a particular sequence of movements and public display.