From RePLAY to UNEARTHED: Six Seasons of SolversMind FLL Achievement

Across six FIRST LEGO League seasons - from the 2020-2021 RePLAY debut through the 2025-2026 UNEARTHED season - SolversMind teams earned 30 awards, including two Coach Awards. The program grew from one team and eight students to five teams and 48 students, representing 19 team-seasons, 171 student season-participations and an estimated 4,712 hours of mentoring and extra training. Overall, 16 of 19 team-seasons advanced to the Ontario Provincial Championship, an 84% advancement rate. SolversMind also earned three international awards, including back-to-back recognitions at the FIRST World Championship in 2025 and 2026.

By SolversMind Robotics | Published July 30, 2026 | Reviewed by SolversMind Robotics mentors

What did SolversMind achieve in the 2025-2026 UNEARTHED season?

SolversMind fielded five FLL teams and trained 48 students during the 2025-2026 UNEARTHED season. All five teams earned at least one regional award, four of five advanced to the Ontario Provincial Championship - an 80% advancement rate - and the program completed six outreach events. Using the documented year-round method, the five teams received an estimated 1,240 hours of mentoring and extra training.

All 10 UNEARTHED season awards

The current season summary and award list were cross-checked against the published SolversMind 2025-2026 UNEARTHED season page, including Chrono Solvers’ Canada Cup Breakthrough Award, 2nd Place.

How difficult is it to become an Ontario FLL Champion and represent Canada?

Winning the FIRST LEGO League Ontario Champion's Award, 1st Place, and earning the opportunity to represent Canada at the FIRST Championship is exceptionally difficult. In a typical recent season, more than 400 FLL teams compete across Ontario's regional qualifying tournaments. Only about two Ontario teams receive World Championship advancement opportunities, depending on the season's allocation and advancement rules.

Using approximately 400 participating teams as the denominator, the estimated advancement rate is about 2 out of 400, or 0.5% - roughly one team in 200. Solvers of X & Y achieved this distinction in both SUBMERGED and UNEARTHED, winning Ontario Champion, 1st Place, in consecutive seasons and representing Canada at the World Championship twice. Because Ontario participation and advancement allocations can vary by season, the 0.5% figure is a scale estimate rather than an audited annual rate.

How were mentoring hours calculated?

The estimate applies the same method to every team-season: 52 weeks x 4 hours per week + 40 additional training hours = 248 hours per team-season. Multiplying 248 hours by the number of active teams produces each annual estimate. Across 19 team-seasons, SolversMind delivered an estimated 4,712 hours of mentoring and extra training. These are program mentoring hours, not student-hours.

Six-season team statistics

Student totals are season-participations and may include returning students in more than one season. Training figures are estimated program hours using the same 248-hour method for every active team-season.

How did the recognition total grow over six seasons?

The cumulative record rose from one recognition in RePLAY to three after CARGO CONNECT, seven after SUPERPOWERED, 12 after MASTERPIECE, 20 after SUBMERGED and 30 after UNEARTHED. Growth accelerated as SolversMind expanded the number of teams, developed a student-to-student mentorship pathway and sustained training across the full year.

Regional, provincial and international breakdown

Why do two totals appear? The published SolversMind summary reports 28 student and team competition awards across six seasons. The underlying season records also contain two Coach Awards - one provincial Coach Award in 2021-2022 and one regional Coach Award in 2024-2025. This article reports both transparently: 28 student and team awards, plus two Coach Awards, equals 30 total recognitions.

What awards did SolversMind earn in each FLL season?

2020-2021 RePLAY - 1 recognition

Season context: 2020-2021 RePLAY.

2021-2022 CARGO CONNECT - 2 recognitions

Season context: 2021-2022 CARGO CONNECT.

2022-2023 SUPERPOWERED - 4 recognitions

Season context: 2022-2023 SUPERPOWERED.

2023-2024 MASTERPIECE - 5 recognitions

Season context: 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE.

2024-2025 SUBMERGED - 8 recognitions

Season context: 2024-2025 SUBMERGED.

2025-2026 UNEARTHED - 10 awards

The complete 10-award UNEARTHED table appears near the beginning of this article. It includes six regional awards, two provincial awards and two international awards. See the published season summary for the supporting record.

What does the six-season record show beyond awards?

Competition results are one part of the story. Across six seasons, SolversMind recorded 19 team-seasons and 171 student season-participations, with 16 of 19 teams advancing to the Ontario Provincial Championship. SolversMind also reports 15 outreach events across the period, including six during 2025-2026. Experienced students increasingly supported newer teammates and carried their skills into FTC and FRC.

Student pathways and selective-school admissions

Among students who participated in the SolversMind pathway, 11 later gained admission to the selective schools listed below. These are participant outcomes reported by SolversMind; they should not be interpreted as proof that robotics participation alone caused an admission decision.

Related recognition beyond the 30 FLL competition recognitions

SolversMind’s broader learning and leadership work also received recognition outside the FLL competition-award count: the 2024 Pervasive AI Developer Contest with AMD Hardware Winner recognition; the 2025 LSRCA Distinguished Achievement Award; and the 2026 Mark & Rhona Breadner Leadership Award presented to Amani M. These achievements are meaningful, but they are kept separate so the 30-recognition FLL total remains comparable across seasons.

Why does the FLL pathway matter?

The six-season arc shows a sustainable development model rather than a single winning year. RePLAY began with one team learning to build and program under pandemic conditions. Later seasons added teams, more advanced engineering, research-led innovation projects and peer mentorship. By UNEARTHED, five teams could compete in parallel, every team earned a regional award, four reached the provincial championship, and two international awards extended the program’s reach beyond Ontario.

The same structure helps students progress from FLL into FTC and FRC: younger students learn fundamentals, returning students take ownership, and experienced students become mentors. The result is a pathway designed to build engineers, communicators, collaborators and community leaders - not simply robots.

Sources and counting methodology

Award names and season context were checked against SolversMind’s published archive: RePLAY, CARGO CONNECT, SUPERPOWERED, MASTERPIECE, SUBMERGED, and UNEARTHED. Current-season regional results were also checked against A Strong Finish to 2025 and related SolversMind news coverage.

Counting rules: student, team and Coach Awards are included in the 30-award total. Mentoring is estimated uniformly at 248 hours per team-season, producing 4,712 estimated program hours across 19 team-seasons. Student counts are season-participations rather than a unique-student total. Outreach uses the supplied total of 15 events, with six confirmed for 2025-2026. School figures are reported participant outcomes. All calculations were completed from the supplied season records and cross-checked against the published SolversMind pages available on July 30, 2026.

From one RePLAY team to five UNEARTHED teams, the strongest measure of growth is not only 30 recognitions. It is the expanding number of students who can design, program, research, present, mentor and lead.