We’re not even trying to make up some reason why this is related to bikes, but it’s just too damn cool not to post. Yes, it’s a real, live, working hover board, and it’s already blown past its funding goal on Kickstarter by about 50%, and it’s just getting started.
Check the video, then float past the break for a bit of the science…
Anyone that’s played with magnets knows like repels like. The concept is used in hubs from Absolute Black and Hermes Sport (yay! there’s our bicycle tie-in!), but it gets trickier when you have free floating magnets unconfined by fixed paths. Apparently they don’t like to remain in a statically opposed state. Yet, that’s exactly what Hendo has been able to make them do to create the world’s first hover board.
Using electrical current to essentially make them push against each other to create levitation, the design is called Magnetic Field Architecture and it’s the secret sauce to Hendo’s patented technology. The current iteration requires a non-ferromagnetic conductive surface beneath the Hover Engine discs, but this is just the start.
While the Hover Board itself is pretty limited in numbers and high in price, they’re also offering a White Box that includes four small Hover Engines and a small surface area to play with it on. It’s basically a developer’s kit and can be had for as little as $699.
Get a glimpse of the future at HendoHover.com and the Kickstarter Campaign here.
