Leonardo's robot
Robot de Leonardo
- Date
- c. 1495 · confidence medium
- Place
- Milan, Italy
- Credited to
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A knight-shaped automaton designed by Leonardo da Vinci, driven by a system of pulleys able to mimic human movements such as sitting up or moving its arms.
What it led to
- Working reconstructions after the sketches were rediscovered in the 1950s
- Cited inspiration for NASA robotics projects
- Historical reference for surgical robotics (Intuitive Surgical)
- Renewed study of Renaissance automata