REVOLUTIONARY ROBOTS - CHANGING THE WAY ROBOTS ROBOTOCIZE
2. LEONARDO’S ROBOT
If Robonaut is the future of robotics, than Leonardo’s Robot (otherwise known as The Mechanical Knight) may have been the first robot. Leonardo Da Vinci invented this robot in 1464, when he was only 12 years old (that guy was really something), but it wasn’t until 1495 that Da Vinci displayed the creature in public. The Mechanical Knight was part of an exhibition during a celebration organized by the Duke of Milan. The Knight operated on a series of pulleys and levers and could make several human-like motions. It could stand, sit, move its arms, turn its neck, and even open its own visor. The blueprints were found in sketchbooks of Da Vinci’s in the 1950s and was part of Da Vinci’s work on anatomy, formally known as the Canon of Proportions. The image is a model displayed in Berlin, with the inner workings displayed next to it. It was reconstructed according to Da Vinci’s own blueprints, so we know it worked when he displayed it! What couldn’t this guy do?
