Leonardo da Vinci’s mechanical automaton was designed to resemble a knight.
Leonardo developed the machine around 1495 for a pageant in Milan. Hidden pulleys, cables, and gears allowed the figure to sit, stand, move its arms, and operate its jaw. Its armor-like appearance made it look like a human warrior rather than a simple machine.
The automaton is often called Leonardo’s robot, although “robot” is a modern term and the machine was a mechanical entertainment device. Leonardo’s original construction plans were not discovered as a complete set, so modern builders have used scattered notes and drawings to reconstruct its likely mechanisms. In 2002, roboticist Mark Rosheim built a working version based on Leonardo’s surviving designs.