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. [1]
The robot’s design largely consists of a series of pulleys that allow it to mimic human motions. [1] [2] [3] Operational versions of the robot have been reconstructed by multiple researchers after the discovery of Leonardo’s sketches in the 1950s. [2] [4] Leonardo’s designs may have served as inspirations for robotics projects backed by NASA and Intuitive Surgical. [5] [6] [7]
Leonardo possibly started sketching ideas for his robot before he began work on The Last Supper. [8] 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. [1]
Leonardo’s initial studies in anatomy and kinesiology, as recorded in his Codex Huygens, may have informed his desire to design an automated device. [2] 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 Canon of Proportions. [2]
Leonardo’s interest in engineering may have also inspired him to create his automaton, which appears in the form of a mechanical knight. [9] Before Leonardo designed his mechanical knight, eyewitness accounts detail how he created a mechanical lion that could move independently of human intervention. [10] The mechanical lion was displayed in many public venues including the wedding of Maria de Medici and at the arrival of the French King Francis I in Lyon in 1515. [2]
Leonardo’s robot is largely controlled by a system of pulleys composed of a central driver, individual drivers, and supporting idler pulleys. [1] The inside of the robot's chest contains a mechanical controller for the arms. [1] This controller triggers the worm gears connected to the robot’s pulley system, enabling the robot to wave its arms. [1] [3] The robot’s legs are controlled with an external crank and cable system attached to key pivots on the ankles, knees, and hips. [2] The robot’s inner mechanisms are hidden behind a German-Italian suit of medieval armor. [11]
The robot’s head has a hinged jaw and is attached to a flexible neck. [2] The robot’s body can sit upright and move its arms around in various directions. [2] The robot's lower body operates with three degrees of freedom while the arms utilize a four-degree-of-freedom system, possibly so the robot can perform whole-arm grasping. [3]
Drums located inside of the robot produce sounds as the rest of the body moves. [2] Like many other mechanical forms of palatial entertainment at the time, the robot may have been designed to scare audiences. [11]
Around the 1950s, researcher Carlo Pedretti discovered sketchbooks containing Leonardo’s notes on the mechanical knight, with numerous fragmented sketches and design details scattered across various pages. [2]
After meeting Pedretti in 1993, roboticist Mark Rosheim collaborated with him to piece together the fragmented sketches and develop a CAD reconstruction of the robot. [12]
In 2002, the BBC filmed Rosheim reconstructing Leonardo’s robot. [1] Rosheim combined his own designs with Leonardo’s preliminary sketches for his reconstruction. [1] He also used a photo of Renaissance armor to plan the exterior of the robot and ensure that all of the robot’s fragments aligned. [1] To account for the compressed filming schedule of two weeks, Rosheim simplified the design and used a stock suit of armor. [1]
In 2007, Mario Taddei, technical director and researcher at the Leonardo3 (L3) research center and museum in Milan, also reconstructed Leonardo’s robot. [4] Both Taddei and Rosheim’s reconstructions were operational. [4]
NASA commissioned Mark Rosheim to design an advanced humanoid robot called Surrogate and nicknamed "Surge”. [5] [13] Rosheim drew inspiration from Leonardo’s robotic designs, integrating principles from Leonardo's exploration of human-like movement and mechanical function into Surge's design. [5]
Intuitive Surgical launched the first da Vinci Surgical System in 2000. [14] It is believed that the robotic-assisted surgical system was named after Leonardo da Vinci as an homage to his contributions to the fields of human anatomy, mechanics, and automation. [6] Some also argue that the name of the surgical system commemorates how Leonardo’s robot appears to be the first human automaton to prove that the mechanisms in human bodies could be replicated using machinery. [7]
An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids existed only in the domain of science fiction and were frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot technology have allowed the design of functional and realistic humanoid robots.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works comprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics.
A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other purposes. In general, humanoid robots have a torso, a head, two arms, and two legs, though some humanoid robots may replicate only part of the body. Androids are humanoid robots built to aesthetically resemble humans.
An automaton is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers in mechanical clocks, are designed to give the illusion to the casual observer that they are operating under their own power or will, like a mechanical robot. The term has long been commonly associated with automated puppets that resemble moving humans or animals, built to impress and/or to entertain people.
Badīʿ az-Zaman Abu l-ʿIzz ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ar-Razāz al-Jazarī was a Muslim polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, artisan and artist from the Artuqid Dynasty of Jazira in Mesopotamia. He is best known for writing The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices in 1206, where he described 50 mechanical devices, along with instructions on how to construct them. One of his more famous inventions is the elephant clock. He has been described as the "father of robotics" and modern day engineering.
Mechanical toys are toys powered by mechanical energy. Depending on the mechanism used they can perform a range of motions, from simple to very complex.
The Vitruvian Man is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1490. Inspired by the writings of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, the drawing depicts a nude man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in both a circle and square. It was described by the art historian Carmen C. Bambach as "justly ranked among the all-time iconic images of Western civilization". Although not the only known drawing of a man inspired by the writings of Vitruvius, the work is a unique synthesis of artistic and scientific ideals and often considered an archetypal representation of the High Renaissance.
Remote surgery is the ability for a doctor to perform surgery on a patient even though they are not physically in the same location. It is a form of telepresence. A robot surgical system generally consists of one or more arms, a master controller (console), and a sensory system giving feedback to the user. Remote surgery combines elements of robotics, telecommunications such as high-speed data connections and elements of management information systems. While the field of robotic surgery is fairly well established, most of these robots are controlled by surgeons at the location of the surgery. Remote surgery is remote work for surgeons, where the physical distance between the surgeon and the patient is less relevant. It promises to allow the expertise of specialized surgeons to be available to patients worldwide, without the need for patients to travel beyond their local hospital.
Robot-assisted surgery or robotic surgery are any types of surgical procedures that are performed using robotic systems. Robotically assisted surgery was developed to try to overcome the limitations of pre-existing minimally-invasive surgical procedures and to enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. is an American biotechnology company that develops, manufactures, and markets robotic products designed to improve clinical outcomes of patients through minimally invasive surgery, most notably with the da Vinci Surgical System. The company is part of the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500. As of 31 December 2021, Intuitive Surgical had an installed base of 6,730 da Vinci Surgical Systems, including 4,139 in the U.S., 1,199 in Europe, 1,050 in Asia, and 342 in the rest of the world.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was an Italian polymath, regarded as the epitome of the "Renaissance Man", displaying skills in numerous diverse areas of study. While most famous for his paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, Leonardo is also renowned in the fields of civil engineering, chemistry, geology, geometry, hydrodynamics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, optics, physics, pyrotechnics, and zoology.
A mechanical arm is a machine that usually mimics the action of a human arm. Mechanical arms are composed of multiple beams connected by hinges powered by actuators. One end of the arm is attached to a firm base while the other has a tool. They can be controlled by humans either directly or over a distance. A computer-controlled mechanical arm is called a robotic arm. However, a robotic arm is just one of many types of different mechanical arms.
The Codex Atlanticus is a 12-volume, bound set of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest single set. Its name indicates the large paper used to preserve original Leonardo notebook pages, which was used for atlases. It comprises 1,119 leaves dating from 1478 to 1519, the contents covering a great variety of subjects, from flight to weaponry to musical instruments and from mathematics to botany. This codex was gathered in the late 16th century by the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, who dismembered some of Leonardo's notebooks in its formation. It is now in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
The history of robots has its origins in the ancient world. During the Industrial Revolution, humans developed the structural engineering capability to control electricity so that machines could be powered with small motors. In the early 20th century, the notion of a humanoid machine was developed.
The da Vinci Surgical System is a robotic surgical system that uses a minimally invasive surgical approach. The system is manufactured by the company Intuitive Surgical. The system is used for prostatectomies, increasingly for cardiac valve repair and for renal and gynecologic surgical procedures.
Mario Taddei is an Italian academic. He is an expert in multimedia and edutainment for museums, a Leonardo da Vinci devotee and scholar, and an expert in the codexes and machines of da Vinci and ancient books of technology.
The ZEUS Robotic Surgical System (ZRSS) was a medical robot designed to assist in surgery, originally produced by the American robotics company Computer Motion. Its predecessor, AESOP, was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994 to assist surgeons in minimally invasive surgery. The ZRSS itself was cleared by the FDA seven years later, in 2001. ZEUS had three robotic arms, which were remotely controlled by the surgeon. The first arm, AESOP, was a voice-activated endoscope, allowing the surgeon to see inside the patient's body. The other two robotic arms mimicked the surgeon's movements to make precise incisions and extractions. ZEUS was discontinued in 2003, following the merger of Computer Motion with its rival Intuitive Surgical; the merged company instead developed the Da Vinci Surgical System.
Horse and Rider is a beeswax sculpture depicting a rider on a horse. The history of the sculpture is unknown before the 20th century. The work has been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci by the Italian art historian Carlo Pedretti, though most historians have ignored or denied the attribution. A number of casts have been made, using a mold taken from the wax original.
Hudson Regional Hospital (HRH) is a private, for-profit acute care hospital, located on the Hackensack River, in Secaucus, New Jersey, on Meadowlands Parkway near Route 3. HRH has a helipad for transporting injured persons from the scene of an accident to the hospital and/or for transferring patients in critical need of specialized services from HRH to another hospital having that capability.