Founded in 1977, it is one of the newest Oxbridge colleges and is unique in having been intended, from its inception, for both undergraduate and graduate students of both sexes.

While Robinson embraces many Cambridge traditions, such as Formal Hall, a chapel and porters' lodge, it avoids others: for example, it allows its students to walk on the grass in the College gardens.

Designed by the Scottish architectural firm Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, Robinson's main buildings are distinctive for the use of handmade red bricks in their construction.

[8] The College Gardens are a fusion of ten pre-existing gardens which date back to late Victorian and early Edwardian times[9] and are crossed by the Bin Brook stream, which once supplied water to the Medieval Hospital of St John (now St John's College).

Within its grounds are Thorneycreek House and Cottage (built in 1895), the Crausaz Wordsworth Building and the Maria Björnson outdoor theatre.

The main entrance to the college is via a drawbridge-like ramp which is accessible to wheelchair users, and there are also some special facilities for those with physical or visual disabilities.

The arms of the College are described as follows: 'Azure in base two Bars wavy Argent over all a Pegasus rampant Or gorged with a Crown rayonny Gules.

In addition, the writer Valerie Grosvenor Myer, although not formally a Fellow, supervised English students at Robinson in the 1980s.