Leonardo's robot, or Leonardo's mechanical knight (Italian: Automa cavaliere, lit. "Automaton knight"), is a humanoid automaton designed and possibly constructed by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century.

Jan 5, 2014 · The robot knight was capable of standing, sitting, raising its visor and independently maneuvering each of its arms, neck and jaw. After the rediscovery of the sketches in 1957, further studies were carried out in 1996 by Mark Rosheim in an attempt to learn more about the knight.

If Leonardo da Vinci's self-propelled cart was the first working design for a robotic vehicle, then the robotic knight would have been the first humanoid robot, a real 15th century C-3PO. Da Vinci was fascinated by human anatomy and spent long hours dissecting corpses in order to figure out how the human body worked.

Using several different da Vinci drawings as blueprints, roboticist Mark Rosheim built a prototype of the robotic knight in 2002, which was able to walk and wave. Rosheim noted how da Vinci had designed the robotic knight to be easily constructed, without a single unnecessary part.

Oct 15, 2019 · Largely considered the first humanoid robot ever created, da Vinci’s design would later be utilized by NASA to aid in the construction of planetary exploration robots. Revolutionary for the time, his knight continues to inspire robotics today.

Jan 20, 2017 · Leonardo’s robot, also known as Leonardo’s mechanical knight, was a humanoid automaton designed by the great engineer and painter of the renaissance period, Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo's robot, or Leonardo's mechanical knight (Italian: Automa cavaliere, lit. "Automaton knight"), is a humanoid automaton designed and possibly constructed by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century.

Inside a German-Italian medieval armour, there were a series of mechanisms that allowed the robot to stand, sit, move his arms, neck and lift the visor of the armour through a system of pulleys and cables. Reconstruction of Leonardo’s mechanical knight. Photo: Erick Möller. Leonardo da Vinci. Mensch- Erfinder – Genie exhibit, Berlin 2005.

Feb 28, 2024 · There they found plans for what turned out to be “a life-size mechan­i­cal knight inside a fif­teenth-cen­tu­ry Ger­man suit of armor.” More than one gen­er­a­tion of enthu­si­asts and robot­ics spe­cial­ists have since set about re-cre­at­ing Leonar­do’s “automa­ton.”

May 11, 2006 · The robot is a knight, clad in German-Italian medieval armor, that is apparently able to make several human-like motions. These motions included sitting up, moving its arms, neck, and an anatomically correct jaw.