Leonardo da Vinci designed a humanoid robot for a Milanese court spectacle. The machine, often called Leonardo’s robot, was an armored mechanical figure that could sit, stand, and move its arms and jaw.
Leonardo probably designed it around 1495 for a festival organized by Ludovico Sforza. Cables and pulleys inside the armor translated the movement of an external control system into actions resembling those of a person. The figure was not an artificial intelligence device; it was a mechanical automaton.
The original robot has not survived, and its exact performance remains uncertain. In 2002, roboticist Mark Rosheim built a working replica based on Leonardo’s drawings and notes. The reconstruction showed that the design contained a sophisticated mechanical system for its period.