Animals such as the armadillo and pangolin have natural armor as a mechanical form of protection from predators. Among the several types of armor that exist in nature, structures composed of thin elastomeric substrates with overlapping hard scales can shield underlying soft tissues from physical impacts and localized stresses while maintaining a level of mechanical compliance necessary for natural motions. Here, we design and fabricate a class of artificial armor that derives inspiration from these natural systems. The optimization process involves systematic tests of several design candidates to assess their mechanical stability against different types of mechanical stresses. The resulting platforms provide highly effective protection layers for wearable electronic devices and soft robotic systems with little constraint on their functionality, as demonstrated with representative devices.

犰狳和穿山甲等动物具有天然盔甲，作为一种机械形式的保护，可以抵御捕食者。在自然界存在的几种类型的盔甲中，由具有重叠硬鳞的薄弹性基材组成的结构可以保护下面的软组织免受物理冲击和局部应力的影响，同时保持自然运动所需的机械顺应性水平。在这里，我们设计并制造了一类从这些自然系统中汲取灵感的人造盔甲。优化过程涉及对几个设计候选者进行系统测试，以评估它们在不同类型机械应力下的机械稳定性。由此产生的平台为可穿戴电子设备和软机器人系统提供了高效的保护层，对其功能几乎没有限制，