[Alex.q]

The biggest thing I would say is not to wait for someone to give you something to do. I have also found that people who put in work ahead of time to learn CAD or programming or some other unique skillset become much more useful during the build season than people who skipped this training. Don't be afraid to offer suggestions during the design process or ask about why your team uses one of their traditional designs (like why the center wheels are dropped in a chassis). Any veteran team member or mentor loves to talk about robots and asking questions will help you understand design principles.

(During my rookie year, I actually taught myself CAD, which my team had not used before. It wasn't much help during build because I was too slow and was just documenting what they built, but after the robot was shipped and they needed some specific dimensions, I became much more useful. The skills I learned that year, which seemed slow and unnecessary at times, enabled me to become one of the lead designers on the team for the next 3 years. I was able to teach other students to use CAD, which was the beginning of my leadership role on the team.)