According to his biographical record in the official dynastic history, Zu "made an apparatus patterned on Zhuge Liang's wooden ox, propelled by neither wind nor water, and economical in manpower."
《南齊書．祖沖之傳》就說他「以諸葛亮有木牛流馬，乃造一器，不因風水，施機自運，不勞人力。」可惜祖沖之所復原之物，也沒有實物或圖形留下。