Leonardo da Vinci designed a humanoid robot in armor that could sit, stand, and move its arms.
The machine, usually called Leonardo’s robot or Leonardo’s mechanical knight, was designed around 1495. Its internal system of gears, cables, pulleys, and cranks was linked to an external suit of armor. The planned movements included raising the arms, moving the head, and opening and closing the jaw.
Leonardo probably created the design for a theatrical or courtly spectacle rather than for practical labor. The robot was not an electronic machine and had no artificial intelligence. It was an automaton powered by mechanical movement, with actions determined by its internal mechanisms.
The design was reconstructed in the early 21st century from Leonardo’s notes and drawings. Because the original machine has not survived, reconstructions help test how the mechanism may have worked, but they cannot prove every detail of the lost prototype.