Members of the Gator-Bots robotics team from Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn, including Balynn Hurst (left), Bella Debilla, Lily Lynn and Eden Sutphin, wait in the staging area to compete at the fifth annual Goonettes Invitational Oct. 11 at Woodhaven High School.
FIRST Robotics Goon Squad team mentor and Goonettes Invitational coordinator Brandon Queen said the off-season event at Woodhaven High School encourages girls to take an active, hands-on role with their high school robotics teams.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
The Goonettes Invitational, an off-season robotics competition designed to encourage girls to join their high school robotics teams, celebrated its fifth year of competition last weekend at Woodhaven High School.
The two-day event, held Oct. 11 and 12, welcomed high school robotics teams from throughout Michigan.
Local teams included the Gator-Bots 1250 from Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn, The Goon Squad 3604 from Woodhaven High School in Brownstown Township, the Titans 2620 from Southgate Anderson High School in Southgate and Advanced Power 815 from Allen Park High School in Allen Park.
FIRST Robotics Goon Squad team mentor and Goonettes Invitational coordinator Brandon Queen said with all teams competing on both days this year instead of one of the two days, the 40 competing teams this year were all from Michigan, whereas in the past teams have traveled to the competition from nearby states and Ontario. He said he hopes they can encourage the out-of-state and Canadian teams to return next year.
He said some of the teams competing are merged groups, so more than 40 teams are actually represented.
Queen said there is a gender gap in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields, which is not due to a lack of competency but a lack of opportunity for females to engage in STEM activities.
“That’s exactly what we provide: a great, safe space that is an opportunity for those students to come in, compete, get their hands on the robots, interact with industry professionals in our hands-on hallway, and see what kinds of things are out there for them in their futures if they so choose to go down the STEM path,” he said. “It’s just as important now as it ever has been to get the students here, have that exposure, and when they move on to college or trade school or the workforce that they are able to say they have this experience and they know what they are doing a little bit.”
Queen said extending the participation of all teams to both days gives them more matches, and more time on the field and driving the robot.
“Not only is it a lot of experience across many different teams, including merged teams, it’s also a greater opportunity to have even more time for their experience when they are here,” he said.
Queen said this year’s Goonettes Invitational is the most competitive they’ve ever experienced.
The Southgate Anderson High School Titans robotic team members Luke Rohroff (left), Anastasia Brennan, Abigail Stalker and Autumn Solis wait in the staging area to compete at the fifth annual Goonettes Invitational Oct. 11 at Woodhaven High School.
He said their event is the strongest off-season event in Michigan, it is the strongest Michigan event this year, including the state championship event, and it is the sixth strongest off-season event anywhere in the world.
“The best of the best from Michigan are coming here,” Queen said. “They have definitely been stepping their game up every year, and I see a lot of familiar teams and faces that are coming back year after year, and the girls on their teams are gaining more confidence, and they are going on to drive not just at our event but at other events in season, so with that they get more training and experience and they just come back stronger each and every year.”
He said as the teams compete in each match, they gain valuable experience and their skill level improves.
“So, from the beginning of this event to the end of this event, the robots and the drive teams are just getting better,” Queen said.
He said in addition to the technology vendors and colleges in the hands-on hallway, they are offering lunchtime seminars as well.
“We are certainly not phoning it in here,” Queen said. “We may be, for the second year now, the biggest FRC event anywhere in the entire world in history, but we are still every year doing our best to further improve the experience for the students, the teams, the mentors and the organizations that join us.”
Eden Sutphin, a member of the Gator-Bots team from Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn, said she became interested in robotics when she would attend her older brother’s competitions.
“I saw pretty much how cool it was, and I joined, and there was a competition for girls, so I said, ‘Let’s do it,’” she said.
Sutphin said sometimes girls are underestimated because they don’t have the same physical strength as boys and because their thought processes may be different.
Bella Debilla said her experience with the robotics team has her rethinking her career path from architecture to engineering.
She said she started on working on the robot’s structure, and now she is involved with CAD, computer-aided design, and the drive team.
For more information about the annual Goonettes Invitational, go to goonettesinvitational.org.
The Gator-Bots robot from Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn, No. 1250, competes Oct. 11 during the fifth annual Goonettes Invitational at Woodhaven High School.