Things We Love: Hendo Hoverboard
Because who needs wheels anyway? It might not resemble the Mattel-pink inspired hoverboard of the 1989 classic Back to the Future Part II, but fans can nonetheless rejoice at technology start-up Hendo’s recently unveiled Kickstarter campaign to build the world’s first real hoverboard.
Created by owners Jill and Greg Henderson — a Californian couple with backgrounds in architecture, design and engineering — the hoverboard is currently in its eighteenth prototype phase despite its public launch, and will continue to be developed until it is just right. According to Hendo, the magic behind the hoverboard lies in its four disc-shaped hover engines. These create a special magnetic field that literally pushes against itself, generating the lift which levitates the board off the ground.
A significant drawback of this electromagnetic technology is that it can only operate over a non-ferrous surface like a copper sheet, so hard core skate fans can’t exactly shred a half pipe with one of these. Nevertheless, we love this concept for its ingenuity and clever use of technology, as do the 2,266 backers it has attracted to date on Kickstarter.
For more information or to find out how you can get some hover technology into your hands, visit the Hendo hoverboard Kickstarter website.
