Inventor Brings DaVinci Designs To Life

We’re all familiar with Leonardo daVinci’s genius when it comes to art. But what about his prowess as an engineer and inventor? A new Discovery Channel series, Doing DaVinci, tasks a team of 21st century builders, engineers and historians to recreate DaVinci’s inventions to see if they really work.

The premise of show, which made its debut April 13, is to have the modern team reconstruct DaVinci’s inventions using materials only available in DaVinci’s time. The 10-episode series calls for the team to try to recreate many of DaVinci’s advanced weapons designs–everything from a futuristic armored tank to a three-story siege ladder.

One of the secret ingredients for the team comes straight out of the modern engineer’s tool bag. The Autodesk Inventor  3-D CAD and simulation tool will be tapped to virtually test  the inventor’s designs in the computer so the team can be sure that the designs will operate appropriately in the physical world. That way, the team can reduce the number of physical prototypes that need to be built as part of their design process.

“Doing DaVinci” will air on the Discovery Channel on Mondays at 10pm ET/PT.