One year from today, a young man named Marty McFly from Hill Valley will arrive from 30 years in the past in a time machine powered by garbage, and he will marvel at new technology like self-lacing shoes and those hoverboards that every kid rides around the town square on. That is, if the kid happens to have $10,000 in his piggy bank and uses it to back a Kickstarter campaign promising to deliver the floating device by this time next year.
A company called Arx Parx has launched a campaign to raise $250,000 for its Hendo hoverboard, which uses a magnetic field to do its hovering (and which also means you have to be floating over a conductive surface, like the copper-covered demo floor the company has been using to show off the Hendo to certain members of the press.
Right now, the Hendo is kind of a hulking monster, but the plan is to reduce its size in the coming year. The makers say the board supports up to 300 pounds and should soon be able to carry upwards of 500 pounds, meaning the hover technology has applications well beyond just ticking off the descendants of Biff Tannen.
That’s why the Arx Parx folks are also planning to release a developer’s kit that will hopefully inspire people to put the Hendo hover engine to practical use. Suddenly all those sci-fi movies and TV shows where warehouse workers of the future are pushing around floating pallets may be an everyday scene.
While the Hendo might be in the offing, it’s worth noting that it currently only hovers about 3/4″ off the ground. Increasing that to 1.5″ would require significantly more energy, say the inventors.
For now, let’s just watch the prototype in action. Warning: This video is incredibly loud and sounds like someone is doing something awful to a cat, so turn your speakers down:
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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