The Society of Manufacturing Technologists held their annual raffle for the robotics team to raise money for two projects that will be entered in competitions.

Andy Karnick, an industrial studies major, won this year’s grand prize, a signed football by the now retired Brett Favre. Other prizes were bobblehead dolls, donated by the Milwaukee Brewers, and gift certificates to Downtown Discs, Lighthouse Inn, and The Ticket, Brian Metcalf, SMT president, said. The raffle raised $225, which will help pay for parts for the robot, travel fees and a new project for this year.

“Another activity we have planned is the racing lawn mower competition, for the U.S. Racing Lawn Mower Association,” Metcalf said.

The team is planning to build and be able to race the modified lawn mower by as early as this fall, Eric Hegg, lawn mower racing committee chair, said.

“We haven’t ever raced before, but we got a motor donated by Kohler and so far we’ve spent around $800,” Hegg said. “We plan to get in the range of 40 to 50 mph with our lawn mower.”

The racing committee also plans on racing with the Wisconsin Lawn Mower Racing Association and a group called Brothers of the Blade from Wisconsin Rapids, Hegg said.

Even with the new program, SMT will build a robot for the annual National Association of Industrial Technologists convention, Metcalf said. The task for the NAIT convention this year is to find the most racket balls in a given amount of time. The robot is expected to cost about $1,200. The money for the robot is raised from brat sales, funds received from the Segregated University Fee Allocation Commission and the football raffle.

“This year we wanted to do something different,” Nick Airriess, robotics team leader, said. “It’s a fun group of people and the nice thing about it is that you don’t need to have any prior experience or knowledge.”

The SMT club has about 15 members, and even though the semester has already started, the group is still welcoming help on either the lawn mower or the robot. The next meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, in room 005 of Russell Hall.