[Eugenia Gabrielov]

Even if you are doing something you don't think is important, you are still a member of the team. Try to completely understand the task you've been assigned, and see if you can improve its design to make it more useful to the robot. Also, even if you are just machining one simple part, you can still be talking to your teammates and getting to know them well.

The better you know people, the more likely they are to give you responsibility. I know that when I started getting to know more people on some of the building sub-teams, I earned more of their respect.