Back to the Future II has inspired a generation of inventors to create a working hoverboard. Photo / Universal / Screengrab
Hoverboards aren't in short supply on Kickstarter, and you can in fact make your own makeshift version with a leaf blower and a bit of plywood, but this latest version from Hendo works on the method the writer of the Back to the Future trilogy envisioned, using a
magnetic field to generate lift.
"The magic behind the hoverboard lies in its four disc-shaped hover engines," creators Hendo Hover explain on Kickstarter. "These create a special magnetic field which literally pushes against itself, generating the lift which levitates our board off the ground.
"While our hoverboard is primarily intended to be self-propelled, the actions which stabilize it can also be used to drive it forward by altering the projected force on the surface below."
While this is the most convincing and authentically Back to the Future hoverboard yet, there is a downside.
"Currently, this surface needs to be a non-ferromagnetic conductor," Hendo adds of the special copper half-pipe it has built. "Right now we use commonly available metals in a simple sheets, but we are working on new compounds and new configurations to maximize our technology and minimise costs."
