What was the name of Leonardo da Vinci’s humanoid mechanical machine?

Leonardo da Vinci’s humanoid mechanical machine is known as the mechanical knight.

Leonardo designed the machine around 1495 for a festival organized by Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Notes and drawings show an armored figure operated by cables and pulleys. The mechanism could reportedly sit, stand, move its arms, and move its jaw, although the exact range of movement remains uncertain.

The original machine has not survived, so modern reconstructions rely on Leonardo’s notebooks and related sketches. In 2002, roboticist Mark Rosheim built a working reconstruction, helping demonstrate that the design’s basic movements were mechanically plausible.

The mechanical knight is often called Leonardo’s robot, but “robot” is a later term. The word robot was introduced in the early twentieth century, more than four centuries after Leonardo’s design. The knight therefore represents an early automaton: a machine that imitates human movement through mechanical linkages.