Lock-Jaw is a ‘heavyweight’ (250 lb.) robot built for the 2015 BattleBots competition on ABC. Lock-Jaw’s creator is veteran builder Donald Hutson from team Mutant Robots. Donald has competed in many types of combat robotics events including the original Robot Wars back in 1996 with his first 220 lb robot called Tazbot. Donald is also a two time super-heavyweight BattleBots champion with his second machine, Diesector.
When not building robots for combat, Donald works as an engineer for Qualcomm’s R&D (Robotics and Drones) division. He has been a lead mentor with FIRST FRC (Team1572 Hammerheads) in San Diego CA for 10 years. The Hammerheads won the Inland empire regional last season and were finalists in this year’s San Diego Regional.
Lock-Jaw2
Lock-Jaw2 is currently in development and is slated to join the field for the 2016 Battlebots championship to be filmed on 4/19/16 in Los Angeles, California.
One of the most prominent mechanical features of both Lock-Jaw robots is the pair of AutomationDirect 25:1 inline servo gearboxes (PGA090-25A3) which operate the 280 degree rotating titanium jaws, via a pair of chain drives (see photo below with guards removed). Donald is quite impressed with the performance of the gearboxes, “These massive gearboxes are paired with sturdy 3 hp DC motors and are the very heart of Lockjaw’s offense. The drive trains provide an enormous amount of torque to lift and grapple the other bots.”
Lock-Jaw made it to the round-of-16 in 2015, before being eliminated by MIT’s robot (Overhaul).
As we blog now, Hutson (second from right in team photo below) is well under way with the all-new LockJaw2 robot and, judging by his excitement, he plans to take home a third title and his seventh Giant Nut trophy.
Stay tuned! 
To learn more about BattleBots competition on ABC, click here.
