Leonardo da Vinci’s robot knight is often called an early robot because it could move its arms.
Leonardo designed the mechanical knight around 1495 for a pageant in Milan organized by Ludovico Sforza. The armored figure was built inside a suit of armor and operated by a system of cables, pulleys, and gears. Reconstructions based on Leonardo’s notes indicate that it could sit, stand, raise its arms, and move its head and jaw.
The machine was not an autonomous robot in the modern sense. It required hidden mechanical control and had no electronic sensors, computer, or independent decision-making. “Robot” is therefore a modern label for a complex automaton.
Leonardo’s design shows how entertainment, engineering, and court spectacle overlapped during the Renaissance. The original device has not survived, but researchers reconstructed versions in the early twenty-first century from drawings and related technical notes. The project is notable because it reveals Leonardo designing a human-shaped machine decades before the term robot existed.