From FLL to FRC: Coach Dahai and Ryan Zhang Share SolversMind’s Student-Led Growth Model at FIRST World Championship Conference
Coach Dahai Zhang and FRC Team 10015 Bubbles Captain Ryan Zhang shared SolversMind’s sustainable FLL-to-FRC student-led growth model at the FIRST World Championship Conference, inspiring global mentors through student ownership and leadership.
By SolversMind Robotics
Published April 18, 2025 | Updated August 05, 2026
Reviewed by SolversMind Robotics mentors
How did FRC Team 10015 Bubbles contribute to an international presentation at the FIRST World Championship during its rookie year?
During its rookie FRC season in 2025, FRC Team 10015 Bubbles contributed to an international presentation at the FIRST World Championship Conference in Houston. Coach Dahai Zhang and Bubbles captain Ryan Zhang delivered “From FLL to FRC – A Sustainable Student-Led Growth Model,” sharing SolversMind Robotics' five-year pathway from FIRST LEGO League foundations to advanced FRC engineering and student leadership. More than 200 mentors and students from around the world attended the session. Ryan presented his personal journey from a young FLL learner to an FRC captain responsible for engineering decisions, team leadership, outreach, and mentoring. The presentation also highlighted Bubbles' rookie-season OctoMaster robot, including its bio-inspired SpiRob 3D-printed soft robotic arm, as evidence of authentic student engineering. The central message was that robotics should be used to develop capable young people, not simply to produce competitive machines. Bubbles' story showed how students can progress from FLL learners into independent engineers, communicators, mentors, and leaders through sustained training, responsibility, teamwork, and real competition experience.
The FIRST World Championship is more than a global robotics competition.
It is where educators, mentors, students, and teams from around the world gather to share ideas about how robotics can create meaningful impact.
In 2025, SolversMind Robotics reached a historic milestone by bringing its complete FIRST pathway to the World Championship season.
For the first time, Coach Dahai Zhang brought both an FLL team and an FRC team to the FIRST World Championship, representing two different stages of the FIRST ecosystem.
Even more significantly, Coach Dahai became one of the few FIRST educators to share a complete FLL-to-FRC student-led growth model at the World Championship Conference during the same season.
Together with FRC Team 10015 Bubbles Captain Ryan Zhang, Coach Dahai delivered a session titled:
“From FLL to FRC – A Sustainable Student-Led Growth Model”
The presentation showcased how a long-term student-centered approach can transform young robotics learners into independent engineers, mentors, and leaders.
The session attracted more than 200 international mentors and students, filling the room with an engaged audience eager to understand how SolversMind developed a sustainable FIRST pathway.
What did Coach Dahai and Ryan Zhang present at the FIRST World Championship Conference?
The presentation shared SolversMind Robotics’ five-year journey of building a sustainable student-led growth model across the FIRST pathway.
Over five years, Coach Dahai coached four FLL teams annually, helping students develop foundations in:
Research and innovation
Engineering design
Programming
Communication
Teamwork
Leadership
This long-term development eventually led to the successful transition of a graduated FLL team into a rookie FRC team:
FRC Team 10015 Bubbles.
During the same season, Bubbles also mentored the next generation of FLL students, helping the new senior FLL team achieve a provincial championship and advance to the FIRST World Festival.
The presentation demonstrated a continuous learning cycle:
FLL students become FTC learners.
FTC students become FRC engineers.
FRC students become mentors and leaders.
A key highlight of the presentation was that Coach Dahai was joined by FRC Team 10015 Bubbles Captain Ryan Zhang, who shared his personal journey through the SolversMind program.
As a Grade 9 student, Ryan explained how he grew from a young robotics learner into a team captain responsible for engineering decisions, team leadership, outreach, and mentoring.
His story provided a student perspective on the impact of the program.
The message was clear:
A successful robotics program does not only create better robots.
It creates students who become capable of leading themselves and others.
Why was this presentation meaningful for the FIRST community?
Coach Dahai’s presentation was built around a simple but powerful philosophy:
“We do not use kids to build robots. We use robots to build kids.”
This idea became the core message that resonated with many attendees.
Robotics is not the final destination.
Robotics is the learning platform.
The purpose of FLL, FTC, and FRC is not only to create technically skilled students. It is to develop young people who can:
Think critically
Solve complex problems
Communicate ideas clearly
Take ownership
Learn from failure
Lead teams
Support others
At SolversMind, students are not treated as assistants who execute adult ideas.
They are the engineers.
They are the designers.
They are the decision-makers.
Mentors provide guidance and experience, but students own the process.
This philosophy was especially meaningful to many mentors because it addresses one of the biggest challenges in youth robotics:
How do we create teams where students truly learn and lead?
SolversMind’s answer is intentional progression.
FLL builds curiosity.
FTC develops ownership.
FRC creates leadership.
The robot is the tool.
The student is the outcome.
How did the FIRST community respond to SolversMind’s student-led model?
The response from the FIRST community was extremely positive.
The conference room was full, with more than 200 mentors and students from around the world attending the session.
Throughout the presentation, attendees were highly engaged with the ideas of student ownership, long-term development, and sustainable team growth.
Many coaches and FRC members were especially interested in how SolversMind was able to achieve both:
High-level competition performance
Genuine student independence
The audience was amazed by the story of FRC Team 10015 Bubbles, especially the team’s rookie-season innovation:
The OctoMaster robot featuring the bio-inspired SpiRob 3D-printed soft robotic arm.
Many attendees were impressed that a rookie FRC team could create an innovative mechanism while maintaining a student-led engineering process.
However, the most impressive part was not only the robot.
It was the journey behind the robot.
The students did not become FRC engineers overnight.
They developed through years of FIRST experiences, where they learned how to research, experiment, communicate, and lead.
After the presentation, many mentors and FRC members approached Coach Dahai and Ryan Zhang to continue discussions, ask questions, and seek advice about creating stronger student-led programs.
The continued conversations after the session demonstrated the strong interest and impact of the presentation.
Many participants were not only asking:
“How can we build a better robot?”
They were asking:
“How can we build better students through robotics?”
What does this milestone mean for SolversMind’s future?
This World Championship presentation represented much more than one successful season.
It represented years of commitment to a different approach to robotics education.
At SolversMind, we believe the strongest robotics programs are not those where adults build the best robots.
They are the programs where students gradually develop the ability to solve bigger and more complex challenges themselves.
The pathway is intentional:
FIRST LEGO League: Building Curiosity
Students discover engineering, teamwork, research, and innovation.
FIRST Tech Challenge: Developing Ownership
Students take responsibility for CAD, mechanisms, programming, testing, and complete robot systems.
FIRST Robotics Competition: Creating Leaders
Students learn to manage complexity, mentor others, and lead advanced engineering projects.
Ryan Zhang’s journey represents this philosophy.
Through years of FIRST participation, he progressed from a young learner into a Grade 9 FRC team captain who can lead engineering discussions, support teammates, and represent his team on a global stage.
This is the true measure of success.
Not only what students build.
But who they become.
Coach Dahai’s presentation showed the global FIRST community that a sustainable student-led model can create both strong teams and stronger students.
The biggest achievement was not standing on the World Championship stage.
It was proving that students can achieve extraordinary things when they are trusted.
Because at SolversMind:
We do not use kids to build robots.
We use robots to build kids.
And when students grow through robotics, they do not just build machines.
They build the future.
Tags:
FIRST World Championship, SolversMind Robotics, Dahai Zhang, Ryan Zhang, FRC Team 10015 Bubbles, FLL to FRC, student-led robotics, robotics education, STEM leadership, OctoMaster robot, SpiRob arm