Hendo's hoverboard can levitate three inches from the ground. Courtesy/Hendo
Hoverboards are awesome. If you’ve seen 1989’s “Back to the Future Part II,” you’ve probably wondered what it would be like to zip around town on a floating skateboard. Now, a real hoverboard may be within your grasp -- Arx Pax of California is seeking funding for its Hendo hoverboard, with 54 days left to reach its maximum goal of $250,000.
Check out the video below.
Currently, the Hendo hoverboard can levitate about an inch from the ground. The technology behind the device lies in four, disc-shaped hover engines. These circular magnets create a magnetic field that pushes against itself, lifting the board from the ground. This means the hoverboard will only work on certain types of floors, like those made of copper or aluminum.
“The hoverboard is simultaneously fascinating and exhilarating. The enabling technologies existed, but no one had yet been able to align them to bring a hoverboard forth,” the company’s Kickstarter page says. “Hendo has done so, and our hoverboards are working in almost every way we could have imagined. But perfecting it will take a little more time and resources.” http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibti...?itok=Hsc4pqYY Hendo's hoverboard prototype. Courtesy/Hendo The company has raised $67,000 of its $250,000 goal. Forty-five percent of the funds will go to the Hover Engine factory setup and production, with 20 percent going toward research and development. Thirty percent will go to hiring new engineers and lab space, with 5 percent going to a Hover park. Arx Pax also promises the hoverboards will be assembled in Los Gatos, California, though parts will come from a number of international suppliers.
“We have already built a working hoverboard, so the principle risk of not being able to deliver on our big promise is nil,” the company said. “However, there is the possibility we do not add as much functionality as we would like by the delivery date.”
The company’s current model is its eighteenth prototype, which can carry around 300 pounds for up to 15 minutes.
October 21st, 2014, 18:16
American Patriot
Re: Hoverboards, Star Wars Speeders and other inventions
Will the Hendo Hoverboard take us back to the future?
The Kickstarter page for Hendo Hoverboard promises a working model for $10,000. But what powers this technology?
We might be seeing the pre-pre-pre-prototype of Marty McFly’s hoverboard. Arx Pax, a small start-up from Los Gatos, Calif., launched a Kickstarter campaign Tuesday for a hoverboard and other hovering inventions.
The future might not quite be now, but the very first taste of it will run you $10,000 for a hoverboard. The board levitates about one inch off the ground and the battery runs for 7 minutes, but looking at demonstrations given to writers at Gigaom and The Verge, it works.
The board is powered by electromagnetic levitation, requiring conductive material underneath it to function. This is in contrast to air cushioning, which powers hovercraft and merely reduces friction between the ground and the vehicle.
While the Hendo Hoverboard uses hover systems that are similar to the maglev systems that powers some trains in South Korea and Japan, the hoverboard runs on a significantly smaller budget and scale. The company isn’t afraid to scale up their hover systems, either.
“Unlike magnetic levitation systems employed today, our hover systems are comparably inexpensive and completely sustainable,” the Kickstarter campaign page says.
“Lifting a wide range of loads - whether it’s a person riding a hoverboard (what we were all expecting) or a building riding out an earthquake (what we never imagined could be possible) - is all within reach.”
The Hendo Hoverboard will be presented to backers on October 21, 2015 at Hendo headquarters, according to the campaign. In the meanwhile, there are a couple other options on Kickstarter using the same sort of technology, such as a hackable “Whitebox” developer kit that the company encourages users take apart and apply in ways of their choosing.
October 21st, 2014, 18:16
American Patriot
Re: Hoverboards, Star Wars Speeders and other inventions
By Cox Media Group National Content Desk
Get ready, “Back to the Future” fans. A real-life hoverboard is in the works. Gigaom reports that the Hendo is set to be released on Oct. 21, 2015. The hoverboard was created by a California startup called Arx Pax. Jill and Greg Henderson, the husband-and-wife team behind the hoverboard, actually are more focused on bringing the levitating technology to a wide variety of sectors, from transportation to manufacturing.
There are some limitations with the current iteration of the Hendo. The device can only hover at a maximum height of three-quarters of an inch and the battery lasts for only seven minutes. The noisy machine only works on top of metal surfaces because the board needs to generate a magnetic field.
There’s also the hefty $10,000 price tag to consider.
A Gigaom staffer was given a test spin on the Hendo and described her experience as “standing on a giant air hockey puck” hovering above the ground. Mashable reports that the company’s Kickstarter campaign needs to reach a funding goal of $250,000 by Dec. 15 to meet the Oct. 21, 2015, release date.
October 21st, 2014, 18:18
American Patriot
Re: Hoverboards, Star Wars Speeders and other inventions
Of course, I won't buy stocks until it can hover over concrete or anything else, and you can actually use it.
