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The Hoverboard Might Actually Become Reality, After All

A California-based startup company has recently presented what could easily make for the first functional hoverboard. Even though it’s still in its experimental phase and might not replicate the exact experience depicted in the famous movie, it does the job.
Hendo Hoverboard 1 photo
Photo: Hendo Hover
Named Hendo Hoverboard, it functions on the same principle Maglev trains will work in Japan, with the first commercial line to start this November. Arx Pax is the creator of the experimental levitating board and he is attempting to crowdfund it through his California-based company. He did, however, finish multiple prototypes, such as the one in the video below, which proves the boards are working.

OK, it might not be the floating skateboard Marty McFly rode in the famous Sci-Fi movie, but it’s an obvious precursor to the imagined ridable.

It works on the Magnetic levitation principle

The self-powered board is a levitating platform that has enough power to lift a fully grown adult. Pax claims the current prototype can easily support 300 pounds (136 kg) and future versions will be able to carry up to 500 pounds (226 kg). The magic behind the hoverboard lies in its four disc-shaped hover engines. These create a special magnetic field which literally pushes against itself, generating the lift which levitates the board off the ground.

Primarily intended to be self-propelled, the actions which stabilize it can also be used to drive it forward by altering the projected force on the surface below. According to its creators, the engineers are working on new compounds and new configurations to maximize the technology and minimize the costs.

Best part: you can build you own hovering device

The device is still in development and Pax is asking folks on Kickstarter to back up the project. There is, however, a really cool way to help the team out. The company is selling what they call a “Whitebox,” a developer kit that gets the technology out into as many hands as possible. In other words, for $300 backers will receive a complete, working Hendo hover engine and enough hover surface to play around with. Pax’ point is for users to build their own hover projects so the development grows faster.

As to the actual board, in case you actually have a spare $10,000 to spend, the first 10 backers to contribute will get a hoverboard to keep. When? On the 21st of October 2015. Yes, the date Mart McFly arrives in the future.

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