The Future Is Here: The Invention of a Real Hoverboard

A Hendo hoverboard. Photo: Hendo Hoverboards.

It would appear that someone has finally invented a working hoverboard, and as far as artnet News can tell, it is not another Funny Or Die hoax! As reported by Complex, this futuristic bit of technology is the work of Hendo Hoverboards, who have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of every Back to the Future Part II fan’s deepest desire.

Obviously, there’s lots of high-tech science stuff in play here, but in basic terms the hoverboards run on four disc-shaped hover engines. Somehow, the engines push against one another, creating a hard-to-believe bubble of magnetic force that lifts the board off the ground.

While this is undeniably awesome, Hendo’s hoverboards only float an inch or so above the ground, and only work above copper-plated surfaces. Still with no less than 53 days to go, the Kickstarter campaign has very nearly reached its $250,000 goal—unsurprising, considering how badly the denizens of the internet want to make their Marty McFly dreams a reality. The campaign will also pay for a state of the art skateboard-inspired hoverpark, slated to open October 21st of next year.

Gifts for backers, deemed “hoverheros,” include t-shirts, five minute rides or hour-long lessons on a hoverboard (provided you can make it out to Silicon Valley sometime beginning in March 2015), and separately, either a working hoverboard engine to play around with or an engine-less hoverboard replica to hang on your wall.

If you’re interested in actually getting a working hoverboard of your own, however, you’re out of luck. All ten of the $10,000 level pledges that would buy that privilege have already been made. If all goes according to plan, however, these will only be the first of many. “One day we expect to have hoverboards that can effortlessly float over any medium (even water!),” the Kickstarter page optimistically forecasts.

artnet News is already imagining the artistic ramifications this new technology could bring—could this pave the way for a water-less sequel to Jeff Koon’s “Equilibrium” series, with a sculpture eerily hovering in midair—or something even cooler? Let’s hope so.

Watch Hendo Hoverboard’s Kickstarter campaign video:


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