Angus of Maker's Muse replaced the outer shell of a 150-gram plastic antweight combat robot with a bristle mane printed via bridged filament, then ran it in competition. The hairs survived where solid shells had previously cracked apart.
The build method is the real story here. Filament is bridged between the robot body and a sacrificial outer support structure, which is cut away to expose stiff, free-standing bristles along the sides and rear. The fabrication technique, borrowed from a 2017 3D-printed lion's mane project, is what you should read the original to understand, because the geometry determines whether this works at all.
Angus has already published a follow-up video refining the hair-generation process. The plastic antweight division, with its 150-gram all-plastic constraint, is the exact environment where ablative, low-mass armor like this can outperform a rigid shell. Whether it scales beyond that class is the open question.
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