Editing Leonardo's robot (section)

== History ==
Leonardo possibly started sketching ideas for his robot before he began work on [[The Last Supper (Leonardo)|The Last Supper]].<ref name=":52">{{Cite web |date=November 4, 2024 |title=Leonardo's Robot |url=https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=LIR&xsl=slideshow&lingua=ENG&chiave=101791#:~:text=This%20robot%20would%20influence%20his,more%20versatile%20general%20purpose%20robots |access-date=November 4, 2024 |website=Museo Galileo Institute and Museum of the History of Science}}</ref> Though no complete drawings of the automaton survived, Leonardo’s notes suggest he may have constructed a prototype around 1495, while he was under the patronage of [[Ludovico Sforza]], the Duke of Milan.<ref name=":02" />

Leonardo’s initial studies in [[anatomy]] and [[kinesiology]], as recorded in his Codex Huygens, may have informed his desire to design an automated device.<ref name=":12" /> The principles of his humanoid robot can be found among a set of folios composed of anatomical sketches that are believed to follow his [[Vitruvian Man|Vitruvian Canon of Proportions]].<ref name=":12" />

Leonardo’s interest in engineering may have also inspired him to create his automaton, which appears in the form of a mechanical knight.<ref name=":72">{{Cite journal |last=Jose |first=Antony Merlin |date=2001 |title=Anatomy and Leonardo da Vinci |journal=The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine |volume=74 |issue=74 |pages=185–195|pmid=11501715 |pmc=2588719 }}</ref> Before Leonardo designed his mechanical knight, eyewitness accounts detail how he created a mechanical lion that could move independently of human intervention.<ref name=":62">{{Cite web |date=2023-10-16 |title=7 Early Robots and Automatons |url=https://www.history.com/news/7-early-robots-and-automatons |access-date=2024-11-06 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> The mechanical lion was displayed in many public venues including the wedding of [[Marie de' Medici#:~:text=The marriage contract was signed,favorite the Duc de Bellegarde|Maria de Medici]] and at the arrival of the French King [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] in [[Lyon]] in 1515.<ref name=":12" />
[[File:Leonardo_Da_Vinci_Robot_Leonardo3_2008-1.jpg|thumb|A modern reconstruction of the robot of Leonardo da Vinci in the Leonardo3 laboratories, in 2007]]