Inspired by IEEE's "Amazing Micro Mouse Maze Contest," the first official All Japan contest was held in 1980, with Birmingham City University noting that early mice struggled to solve the maze.

Over decades, the contest introduced specialized categories, including the Half-Size Micromouse in 2009 and a dedicated Freshman class in 2014 for beginners.

In the Modern Era (from the 2010s to the present), the competition focuses on, for example, sub-4-second, 3-meter square maze solving times. By 2018, the competition rebranded, removing the "preliminary" stages to streamline into a major final event.

The official rules define a micromouse as an autonomous robot that runs through a designated maze to compete on intelligence and speed. The robot must stay autonomous, cannot be modified by the operator during the contest except for minor repairs, cannot leave parts on the maze, and cannot damage or climb the walls. Its footprint must fit within a square of 12.5 cm per side, although there is no height limit.

The maze uses 9 cm × 9 cm unit squares, with a maximum size of 32 × 32 squares, walls 2.5 cm high and 0.6 cm thick. The start is placed at one of the four corners, and the finish zone is a rectangle whose location and size are set for each competition.

A run is officially timed from the start sensor to the goal sensor, and the fastest lap is recorded as the official time. The contest usually allows up to 5 runs within a time limit that is set individually for each competition, and the time limit is within 10 minutes.

For the All Japan Micromouse Contest, the prize structure can be adjusted for each contest, but the core ranking logic remains tied to speed, successful completion, and autonomous behavior. A specific prize noted in the criteria is the Autonomy Prize, awarded to the mouse with the shortest time after completing all runs within the time limit without touching, with the last run returning to the start.

According to ch.mathworks.com