A Renaissance Robot

Abstract

This article focuses on a computer in downtown Manhattan that is displaying a robotics designer’s latest creation in action. Fashioned to look like an armored knight, the mechanical man in this three-dimensional simulation sits up, waves its arms, moves its head on a flexible neck, and opens and closes its hands and its jaw, all in smooth, precise motions. The robot could be used in a new motion picture, museum, or amusement park. Its original designer, however, never heard of movies, computers, or Wait Disney: The robot sprang from the mind of Leonardo da Vinci. Most Renaissance-era designers took a practical approach to mechanics, viewing each machine as a universal entity to be applied as a whole. Leonardo, however, used a revolutionary method of analysis that involved dissecting machines into individual components or “organs” and establishing how many essential parts exist; pulleys, chains, pinions, shock absorbers, springs, and friction bearings were just some of the elements he discovered to be common in many different machines. Leonardo’s studies have influenced and inspired Rossheim greatly in his current robotics designs. Leonardo followed the Renaissance ideal of “man as the measure,” the standard for which the world was designed.