Back to the Future II promised us flying skateboards known as hoverboards by the far-flung year of 2015! So far the closest we gotten are movie replicas such as a levitating art exhibit and a non-working limited edition hoverboard from Mattel toys.
Now a fully functional prototype has been successfully funded on Kickstarter. The Hendo Hoverboard can support up 250 pounds as it seamlessly glides over the ground. The design isn’t movie accurate for legal reasons. In fact, the Kickstarter page doesn’t even mention the movie by name.
“Yep, there was a movie,” the Kickstarter page acknowledges. “However, our attorneys have told us not to go there. So this is as far as we’ll take it.”
Of course, you can’t ride these space age skateboards anywhere. They need a non-ferromagnetic surface to work so Hendo is designing skateboard parks specifically for hoverboards, a hoverpark. The first of which will presumably be in Sillicon Valley, where the company if located. You can get a 5 minute ride for $100 pledge.
The first batch of hoverboards have already been reserved at $10,000 each but the Whitebox development kit is still available for a $299 pledge. The floating box can move forward, backward, left, right and rotate around its axis through an app on your iPhone or Android phone. You can even pre-program its movements. The Whitebox can hover for up to 15 minutes on a 2 hour charge.
It’s not just a novelty insists Hendo. They have lofty goals for the technology called Magnetic Field Architecture (MFA™).
“We have a number of applications in mind, with industries that range from warehouse operations, to building foundation improvements, to novel methods of electromechanical fluid separation,” says Hendo. “But what really excites us are the possibilities of applications we have no idea even exist – from new ways to harness energy, to replacing specific pieces of equipment in manufacturing processes; from the ordinary, to the exotic.”
The hoverboard is expected to be released October 21 2015, the very date Marty McFly traveled to in Back to the Future II.
