You wanted a Hover board? We got a hover board.

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**KingCracker**

Link
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/21/marty-mcfly-hoverboard-available-on-kickstarter

Work blocked

Hey, McFly! Hoverboard available on Kickstarter for $10,000
Dreams of sailing through the air on a hoverboard finally realised – but only on certain surfaces
The sci-fi inventions that have become reality
Marty McFly gets a hoverboard in Back to The Future II in 1989, set in October 2015. Now you can get a hoverboard - though not for skating.
Marty McFly gets a hoverboard in Back to The Future II in 1989, set in October 2015. Now you can get a hoverboard - though not for skating. Photograph: Allstar Picture Library
Samuel Gibbs
Tuesday 21 October 2014 09.11 EDT

94 comments
Want a hoverboard before Marty McFly (who looks just like Michael J Fox) arrives in October 2015 to fly one around his town square? Arx Pax, a small company from Los Gatos, California, is now offering the real thing - although don’t expect to do much travelling on it.

Ever since Michael J Fox took to the air in the 1989 classic, Back to the Future II, people have dreamed of hoverboards. Many have attempted to recreate that magic; Mattel even released a plastic replica. Sadly, it didn’t levitate.

Arx Pax’s product really does hover. There’s one small catch, though – it will only hover on special surfaces, because it uses magnets, just like a maglev (magnetic levitation) train.

The Hendo floats above the floor using magnetic levitation.
‘A better way to build, move people and move materials’
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The current prototype of the Hendo – the company’s 18th – will hover about 3cm off the ground carrying up to 140kg (about two people) for around 15 minutes. It uses a strong magnetic field to repulse a ground-based material and float in the same way large maglev trains like the Shinkansen (“Bullet train”) in Japan operate. That means that Hendo will only float over floors made of non-ferrous metals such as copper or aluminium; this is no skateboard for flying down to the local supermarket, or around the town square hoiked to the back of a pickup truck.

“About two years ago, we began investigating magnetic field architecture (MFA) and hover technology as a better way to build, move people and move materials,” said Arx Pax founder Greg Henderson. “During our research, we discovered a way to transmit electromagnetic technology that is far more efficient than anything else. This means that our patent-pending Hendo Hover Engine technology can enable platforms to hover over non-ferrous materials with payloads of virtually any size and weight.”

That means that it could be used to move heavy loads around inside warehouses without friction - a use that has often been posited for maglev technology.

Hendo hoverboard
The board runs for around 15 minutes on battery power. Photograph: Arx Pax
The Hendo has no form of forceful propulsion at the moment, and so drifts across surfaces. But it is possible to generate a gentle bias towards one direction or another using the magnetic fields generated beneath the board using touch-sensitive plates under foot. They allow rotating the board, but moving forward still needs a push off something a bit more solid.

Early days, future past
Arx Pax is also offering the magnetic field technology in a small developer box controlled by a smartphone app, which is aimed at hackers looking to use the technology for something else including industrial uses for transporting heavy loads.

The company is looking for $250,000 in funding to refine the working technology from the prototype and start production. Pledges start at $5 with $299 buying a developer kit but those looking for a working Hendo board will have to shell out $10,000.

“While the possibilities are both exciting and nearly limitless, we decided to build a hoverboard prototype and hover engine developer kits right out of the gate,” said Henderson. “It is still early days, but we are absolutely thrilled because we have proven conclusively that what was widely considered impossible is, in fact, possible.”

Automatically Appended Next Post:
There's a video but I can't get it to post correctly for some reason.

**Frazzled**

I saw it. Kind of neat. Worth $10,000 heck no but still kind of neat.

**Slarg232**

Damnit..... I had an idea that would've lead to a hoverboard. Probably more powerful (More than an inch of clearance), but a WHOLE lot noisier.

Who the hell do these people think they are, Marty Mcfly?

**KingCracker**

Mark my words, one day back to the future will be looked upon as prophecy

**Slarg232**

Well, next year we are supposed to get Self Lace shoelaces.

The real question is, was it a prophecy, or did everyone look at it and be like 'I WANT THAT!'

**Platuan4th**

Slarg232 wrote:
Well, next year we are supposed to get Self Lace shoelaces.

The real question is, was it a prophecy, or did everyone look at it and be like 'I WANT THAT!'

A self fulfilling prophecy is still prophecy.

**Deadshot**

This time next year we'll have true hoverboards... or magnetic roads and more powerful magnets.

Hopefully next year the Delorean will come back into fashion.

Anyway, the next stage is cold fusion drives to replace petrol and hovercars.

**curran12**

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but this is maglev technology. We've had it for decades. This is just that wrapped up in a fancy and wholly impractical hoverboard.

**LumenPraebeo**

curran12 wrote:
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but this is maglev technology. We've had it for decades. This is just that wrapped up in a fancy and wholly impractical hoverboard.

Why is it impractical?

**Grey Templar**

Indeed. Seems like it could be a novel sport done in specialized arenas. Although its really just reskinned skateboarding, I imagine there would be a whole new set of skills and moves.

**curran12**

LumenPraebeo wrote:
curran12 wrote:
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but this is maglev technology. We've had it for decades. This is just that wrapped up in a fancy and wholly impractical hoverboard.

Why is it impractical?

For one, we have the technology already, it's maglev. All the hoverboard is is "personal" maglev, but it fulfills no purpose aside from being another skateboard.

This is not some "go anywhere" Back to the Future hoverboard that allows a person to free wheel hover around town, it is bound to (in effect) a rail system, which is exactly what maglev trains do today.

**Deadshot**

curran12 wrote:
LumenPraebeo wrote:
curran12 wrote:
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but this is maglev technology. We've had it for decades. This is just that wrapped up in a fancy and wholly impractical hoverboard.

Why is it impractical?

For one, we have the technology already, it's maglev. All the hoverboard is is "personal" maglev, but it fulfills no purpose aside from being another skateboard.

This is not some "go anywhere" Back to the Future hoverboard that allows a person to free wheel hover around town, it is bound to (in effect) a rail system, which is exactly what maglev trains do today.

Well having said that, Marty's board didn't work on water. Who's to say the street weren't lined with metal under the ground and the magnets more powerful than this prototype, but at the same time were only powerful enough to support his weight due to small traces of metal in and under the water?
In the case of Biff's megaboard, maybe his board had more powerful magnets that could just about support his weight but the superendgines obviously gave him propulsion.

**LumenPraebeo**

curran12 wrote:
For one, we have the technology already, it's maglev. All the hoverboard is is "personal" maglev, but it fulfills no purpose aside from being another skateboard.

This is not some "go anywhere" Back to the Future hoverboard that allows a person to free wheel hover around town, it is bound to (in effect) a rail system, which is exactly what maglev trains do today.

The way they advertised it, i think that's exactly what they intend it to be, a skateboard. For now anyway.

**KingCracker**

curran12 wrote:
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but this is maglev technology. We've had it for decades. This is just that wrapped up in a fancy and wholly impractical hoverboard.

You can't say that, then be a Debbie downer and everything is a ok. You're being a downer. Period. Also it's a skateboard..... that hovers. Tadaaaaa!

**Flashman**

Never mind that hovering above the ground is cool, the technology has huge potential for road maintenance.

I work in the Highways department for a local authority and roads are a massive money sink due to the amount of repairs that have to be carried out (wear, pot holes etc). Imagine a road surface that didn't need that level of maintenance because vehicles never actually touched it.

The main problem is making sure the vehicles could steer and stop in a controllable fashion as roads would effectively become ice rinks.

**Commander Cain**

I'm sure a magnetic road surface would still be safer than Canadian roads in the winter...

**KingCracker**

I live in Michigan and our weather is pretty similar to yours. I agree, winter roads suck.

**Deadshot**

I have limited knowlegde of Maglev so bear with me.

From what I understand the Maglev train gets propulsion by rapidly rotating the magnets, so that the opposing forces of polarity push it along. Surely with braking its a simply matter of having the magnets rotate so that the car's front/side/back whatever would just not be able to move? In which case the car could come to a dead stop almost instantly and the only issue would be the passengers and seatbelts.
Again, limited knowledge so salt

**Grey Templar**

Flashman wrote:
Never mind that hovering above the ground is cool, the technology has huge potential for road maintenance.

I work in the Highways department for a local authority and roads are a massive money sink due to the amount of repairs that have to be carried out (wear, pot holes etc). Imagine a road surface that didn't need that level of maintenance because vehicles never actually touched it.

The main problem is making sure the vehicles could steer and stop in a controllable fashion as roads would effectively become ice rinks.

We could make roads which are far more durable than they are now. We don't because we're too cheap.

Look at Roman roads. Those things were built to last.

**KingCracker**

As was most things they built. We can't have a building go untouched for more than 60 years before it falls apart. Modern tech my ascot!