Twenty-nine high school FIRST Robotics Competition teams from across Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan came together at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School (DSHA) in Milwaukee on Saturday, October 17, for the SHOUT Robotics Competition. This off-season competition has one twist from all others – the drive team that takes the robot onto the field must be entirely female. The name of the competition outlines its goal: SHOUT – Amplifying the Voices of Women in STEM.
The Ferradermis robot, Chief Excavation Officer (CEO), was led onto the field by Driver Sam Raupp, Operator Mily Zeferino-Hernandez, Drive Coach Vivian Harris, and two freshmen – Human Player Amelia Lefaive and Technician Alejandra Escobar. Many teams struggle to fulfill the requirement of an all-girls drive team, so Ferradermis is always at the ready to loan out girls to other teams for the day. Charlotte Trautman spent the day serving as Technician for Team 2062 CORE from Waukesha, a role that she also held for them during last year’s TWIST off-season competition. New senior member Jordyn Weeden spent the day serving as Technician for Team 4143 MARS/WARS, a highly successful team from Metamora, Illinois. Trautman and Weeden eventually ended up on the same playoff alliance, the alliance that finished in third place.
Ranked #5 out of 29 teams after qualifications, Ferradermis became the captain of the #3 seeded playoff alliance. They invited Team 3061 Huskie Robotics from Naperville, Illinois as their first pick, and then the two teams asked Team 3602 RoboMos from Escanaba, Michigan to join them for the playoffs.
The Ferradermis led alliance ruled the top half of the double-elimination bracket, defeating the #6 seed by a score of 308-210 and then defeating the #2 seed by a score of 252-174 despite the Ferradermis robot struggling with a brown-out throughout the match. The next match saw the Ferradermis alliance take down the #1 seed led by Team 2194 Fondy Fire from Fond du Lac by a score of 381-349. The 381 points in this match set the high score mark for the entire tournament as all three of the Ferradermis alliance robots were playing their best. The win secured a spot for the alliance in the finals. The #1 seed then played its way back through the lower bracket to set up a rematch in the finals. Due to the event running late, the officials made the call to change the normal best of 3 finals structure to a one-match, winner takes all final. The #1 alliance came out on top by a score of 315-295, leaving the Ferradermis alliance to finish as the Finalists (second place). Ferradermis finished the day with a 7-3 record.
Ferradermis was also honored to win the Lillian Moller Gilbreth Award at the SHOUT Robotics Program event! An early pioneer in industrial engineering, Lillian Moller Gilbreth studied how thoughtful systems and processes could help people perform at their best, applying engineering principles to improve both workplaces and everyday life. This award celebrates a team that applies these principles to prepare and train students in technical skills and robot operation to ensure they are ready to succeed. Ferradermis Administrative Team Caption Alex Nelson and others were able to clearly outline for the judges the data driven approach the team had taken for selecting the drive team for the event and for preparing the new members for their first competition.
In addition to competing, the event offered the opportunity for several Ferradermis members to volunteer. Carson Miller and Paxton Wilson worked as field resetters for the entire day, and Mason Genung served as a FIRST Lego League referee for the first time during the FLL scrimmage that was happening in the same location. This will serve as Genung’s training to be an FLL Ref for the Whitewater FLL Regional hosted by Ferradermis on November 14.
Technical Team Captain Preston Miller and Design and Assembly Sub-team Co-Lead Owen Taylor anchored the pit crew with new members rotating through the pit throughout the day. Programming Sub-team Co-Lead Emilie Bruns oversaw the robot code while Business Sub-team Lead Cooper Housel took on the role of media person and Safety Specialist Asher Downs oversaw team safety and distributed safety gifts to the other pits. Rotating through the pits and cheering the team on from the stands were Luis Santiago Avila, Jayden Kehrer, Cristian Lopez Bamaca, Horatio Nelson, Jullian Rennells, and Arlo Zotti.
Teams had been invited to donate new and gently used children’s books for the Next Door MKE Foundation. The teams with the largest stacks of book donations were invited to have one mentor participate in a charity match…while dressed in an inflatable minion costume! Thank you to Head Coach Mark Zimmermann for being a good sport and representing Ferradermis!
This is the last competition for Ferradermis with their 2026 season robot. Team members will continue to train and plan for the kickoff of the new 2027 season in January. Next Saturday, the team will host 47 Daisy and Brownie Girl Scouts from Whitewater and other area towns at Whitewater High School to help them earn their programming and robotics badges.
Ferradermis continues its annual sponsorship campaign. If you are interested in becoming a team sponsor, please reach out to Laura Masbruch at lmasbruch@wwusd.org.