Robo-One is a robot competition category of bipedal humanoid robots. The first ROBO-ONE contest was held in Japan in 2002 and consisted of an initial judged autonomous "Demonstration" stage, followed by one-on-one matches. In Japan, ROBO-ONE has spawned a whole series of related competitions including ROBO-ONE J, ROBO-ONE Special, ROBO-ONE Grand Prix, and the ROBO-ONE Technical Conference events. ROBO-ONE type contests have been held in several other countries including South Korea (official) and the United states (unofficial held by Robogames).
The robots are usually built with RC Servos as actuators and mounted together with sheet metal shapes. The most common frame material is aluminum. However, there have been entries constructed with steel, plastic, and even wood. Different sensors are used by the robot for balance and to perceive its surroundings. A small onboard micro controller or equivalent is used to control the robots movements and if the robot is autonomous it is also programmed to adjust the robots behavior in response to sensor inputs.
There have been fifteen competitions in Japan. ROBO-ONE 13 was held on March 22 and 23, at Korakuen Hall" in Takamatsu.[1] ROBO-ONE 14 occurred on October 11–12, 2008. ROBO-ONE 14 took place in at the Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall. ROBO-ONE 15 was held in Kawasaki on May 4, 2009. ROBO-ONE 16 was held in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, on September 26–27, 2009. The 17th ROBO-ONE tournament took place in Kawasaki on March 21, 2010. A ROBO-ONE Festival was held May 22 at the Kawasaki City Industrial Promotion Hall. The festival included both ROBO-ONE Soccer and ROBO-ONE Light events.[2] The 18th ROBO-ONE event was held in Shibata, Niigata Prefecture on August 28–29, 2010.[3] The ROBO-ONE 19 the competitions scheduled for March 19th/20th in Kawasaki have been canceled due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[4]
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Early ROBO-ONE specifications were deliberately minimal to encourage as much participation as possible. As the robots' performance has improved, the specifications have been tightened to keep the focus on 'humanoid robotics'. For example, the foot/sole size in relation to the robots overall size has been incrementally decreased for recent competitions.
With ROBO-ONE 11 (March, 2007), the concept of weight classifications was introduced.
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.