Da Vinci's Drawing Machine - The Gambler

History’s First Programmable Robot

Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Robot Knight (built around 1495), these all-wood automaton kits will amaze your friends just as The Florentine’s device amazed kings and queens some 5 centuries ago. Programmed by wood cams, the included set of disks will magically produce 4 different artistic sketches as if drawn by a master artist’s hand. Sketches include Skull, Horse, Flower and Lady's Portrait. Powered by hand crank so no batteries are required! Assembled size: 15” x 11” x 3”. For experienced hobbyists ages 14+.

The Gambler (Skeleton arm design with 121 pcs)

Also available:

The Slayer (Medieval armor design with 135 pcs) Assembled size: 15.7” x 11.8” x 3.5”

The Robot (Robotic arm design with 92 pcs) Assembled size: 15.7” x 11.8” x 3.2”

*Note: each kit draws the same 4 sketches: Skull, Horse, Flower and Ladies Portrait.

Additional da Vinci Programming Petal Disks: Man’s Face, Dragon, Elephant’s Head and Swans

The History

Leonardo built what was considered to be history’s first robot. His Robot Knight could perform many actions including shaking hands, playing the drums and could even hug an amused guest. It was rumored that the robot had another special skill…it could draw a picture.

The Technology

Many consider da Vinci’s robots to be the oldest examples of an early proto-computer because they contained hardware, the robot itself, and software, wooden cams, which were read-only and interchangeable. Leonardo called these wooded cams ‘petals’ as they reminded him of petals on a flower.

A set of programming pedals for our Drawmaton stores 1 kilobit of pre-defined motion data. When the petals complete one full rotation, information is sent down the robots arm and into the hand which draws the picture with the pen.