What was the name of Leonardo da Vinci’s spring-powered vehicle that could move without being pushed?
Answer
Self-propelled cart
Leonardo da Vinci’s spring-powered vehicle that could move without being pushed was the self-propelled cart.
Leonardo designed the cart around 1478–1480. Its movement came from coiled springs inside the body, while a system of gears and programmed components controlled the distance and direction of travel. The design could also be set to follow a predetermined route.
The cart is sometimes called an early robot or an ancestor of the automobile. Those labels are useful comparisons, but it was neither a modern car nor an autonomous robot in the modern electronic sense. It had no engine, computer, or feedback sensors.
A reconstructed version was displayed in 2006 at the Florence Institute and Museum of the History of Science. The cart illustrates Leonardo’s interest in mechanical motion, theater machinery, and devices that could perform actions automatically.