Any child of the '80s was easily in awe of Marty McFly when he jumped on his hoverboard in Back to the Future. At the time, the magical invention seemed beyond our wildest dreams. But now, California-based company Hendo Hover has taken the first steps towards making that contraption a reality.
The Hendo Hoverboard is a prototype designed by Hendo founder and inventor Greg Henderson and a large team of developers. It can float one inch off the ground by using four disc-shaped hover engines that create a magnetic field which pushes against itself to generate the lift. According to the Kickstarter campaign, the surface needs to be a non-ferromagnetic conductor. Hendo currently uses commonly available metals in simple sheets, but are also working on new technologies. Because the sleek design and innovative concept require a certain kind of surface, the company is also working on developing a hoverpark.
“The hoverboard is simultaneously fascinating and exhilarating,” says Henderson. “The enabling technologies existed, but no one had yet been able to align them to bring a hoverboard forth. Hendo has done so, and our hoverboards are working in almost every way we could have imagined.”
