Da Vinci's Drawing Machine - The Gambler | 121 Piece Wood Automaton Kits

Description

Trusted, Inspired, Educational & Fun
Da Vinci's Drawing Machine - The Gambler
3157242
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 portraits, horse, tulip, dragon and more! 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)
*Note: each kit draws the same 4 sketches: Skull, Horse, Flower and Ladies Portrait.
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.