thumb|Model of Leonardo's robot with inner workings, on display in Berlin
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.
The robot's design largely consists of a series of pulleys that allow it to mimic human movements. Operational versions of the robot have been reconstructed by multiple researchers after the discovery of Leonardo's sketches in the 1950s. 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. Before Leonardo designed his mechanical knight, eyewitness accounts detail how he created a mechanical lion that could move independently of human intervention. 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.
The robot's head has a hinged jaw and is attached to a flexible neck.
In 2002, the BBC filmed Rosheim reconstructing Leonardo's robot. Both Taddei and Rosheim's reconstructions were operational. 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.
Intuitive Surgical launched the first da Vinci Surgical System in 2000. 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. 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.