Dozens of girls from across Michigan took the controls Saturday at Woodhaven High School, driving, wrenching, and strategizing their way through a robotics competition built specifically for them. The event, known as the Goonettes Invitational, puts female students in the drive team, pit crew, and mechanical leadership roles that have historically gone to boys on most FIRST Robotics teams.
The invitational is organized by Team 3604, known as the Goon Squad, Woodhaven High School's home robotics team, according to ClickOnDetroit. The team created the Goonettes name for the competition, and organizers say the goal is straightforward: build a pipeline of young women into STEM and robotics careers. Per the Goon Squad, the event was founded in 2019 after organizers observed persistent gender imbalances in technical driver roles across the robotics circuit.
What started as a small regional gathering has grown considerably since then, according to the same report. Brandon Queen, co-founder and event coordinator of the Goonettes Invitational, said former participants regularly return to tell him they are now studying robotics engineering in college. Organizers consider connecting young women directly with people working in STEM to be critical to keeping them in the field.
Robots Built to Impress, Not Just Compete
Competitors brought complex, multifunctional robots to the floor, many packed with moving parts designed to handle multiple tasks during matches. Autum Solis, who represents Team 2620 out of Southgate, said robots loaded with mechanisms can look like they are destined to break down, yet still perform exactly as intended. She added that the event makes teams feel proud, since robotics functions as a unified team sport rather than an individual pursuit.
Sam Manning, who competed in this year's invitational, compared the atmosphere in the gym to a Michigan football game. She said attendees arrive buzzing with energy because robotics is simply their life. Manning has been part of district robotics programs since fourth grade and plans to major in industrial engineering, according to the Woodhaven-Brownstown School District.
Manning told ClickOnDetroit that seeing other girls on the competition floor matters, especially after sitting through classes that were otherwise all boys. That sentiment sits at the center of why Team 3604 built an entire invitational around putting girls in command roles rather than treating their participation as an afterthought.
State Honors and a Hallway Full of Career Connections
The Woodhaven-Brownstown School District announced that Team 3604 won the state-level Impact Award at the 2026 FIRST in Michigan State Championship for the third consecutive year, an honor recognizing the team's outreach and STEM advocacy work, including the Goonettes Invitational itself. Manning also received the state-level Student Leadership Award at that same championship, per the district.
Beyond the matches themselves, the invitational includes a Hands-On Hallway exhibition where competitors meet directly with corporate engineering representatives and university STEM program staff, according to the Eastern Michigan University STEM Ed Institute. The hallway is designed to bridge the gap between high school robotics and the college programs and industry jobs that can follow it.
Automotive Giants and State Grants Fuel the Pipeline
Team 3604 draws direct corporate backing from some of southeast Michigan's biggest automotive and tech employers, including Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Bosch, and Altair, according to The Blue Alliance. Downriver robotics programs generally lean heavily on that kind of automotive-sector sponsorship and technical mentorship to stay afloat.
State support matters too. The Michigan Department of Education offers grants that may help public school districts cover robotics event registration fees and teacher-coach stipends, per information from the State of Michigan. That funding framework helps explain why Michigan now operates the largest FIRST Robotics Competition district in the country, with more than 500 active high school teams, a scale that outpaces every other state, as CBS Detroit has reported.
The Wider Gap the Event Is Chasing
The numbers explain why an event like the Goonettes Invitational exists in the first place. National Science Foundation data published in May 2024 found that women make up just 35% of the overall U.S. STEM workforce despite representing 48% of all employed workers nationwide, according to figures compiled by the National Science Foundation.
