The first ROBO-ONE contest was held in Japan on February 2, 2002, and consisted of an initial judged autonomous "Demonstration" stage, followed by one-on-one matches.
[3] The ROBO-ONE 19 competitions scheduled for March 19/20 in Kawasaki were canceled due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and were held October 8–9, 2011.
Competition rules vary based on the specific event, and have evolved over time as the robots ability has improved.
The ROBO-ONE committee publishes the official rules in Japanese for each competition roughly two months in advance.
ROBO-ONE type competitions in other countries typically follow the same general format and rules, but with modifications appropriate for the participants skill and ability levels.
Competition level ROBO-ONE entries are typically custom designs, but have often been based in part on commercially available kits.