Brief history of hoverboard construction: 5 most famous projects
Inspired by the flying board from the cult film, many have tried to reproduce the technology. Who, how and how successfully did it in a short selection.
Hendo
Perhaps the first, most famous project, which partly ensured his success on Kickstarter , where the campaign attracted over half a million dollars, and of course, it was already written about him on Geektimes .
The device is named after the creator, who, according to him, worked on this project for 20 years, keeping it in the strictest confidence. Directly working prototype created already a whole team of 19 people, while maintaining, of course, confidentiality!
Greg Henderson, the founder of the project, offered users a board equipped with four engines that create a magnetic field, and therefore Hendo can only be used in specially created conditions, as specified, on non-ferromagnetic surfaces.
Currently, Arx Pax , which develops Hendo, continues to operate.
ArcaBoard Loud
enough project last year. The video was distributed between users in a matter of days, typing on Youtube almost2 million views , which gave the company some confidence in the success of the project.
However, views could not be converted to money. The campaign on Kickstarter was monstrously unsuccessful and was eventually stopped, having collected a little over $ 1 thousand . of the desired 250.
However, Arca Space continued its activity. Until February 2016, the “flying mattress” could be bought on the official website for $ 19,900, or at the current exchange rate: about 1,273,000 rubles. However, since the second quarter, the company has greatly reduced - by 25% - the price of its device, and ArcaBoard began to cost $ 14,900 , although the difference was “sewn up” in an accessory for fast charging for $ 4,500.
For this amount, you can take a few minutes into the air on a not very nice rectangle, equipped with 36 propellers with a total capacity of 272 liters. with. You can get off the ground by 30 cm to fly for some time at a speed of about 20 km / h.
Omni
This hoverboard is a Guinness record holder . In 2015, the author of the project, a Canadian inventor with a Romanian history, Alexander Duru flew it over 250 meters, rising to 5 meters above the lake.
This version of the Omni from 8 propellers works, and the battery charge lasts for a short 1, 5 minutes of flight, but this project is not commercial either. On the official website now you can find only information that work is underway on a new prototype.
Also some infoappears on the Facebook page , and the video of the first flight - on the official YouTube channel.
Lexus
Quite a popular project on Geektimes, which we first mentioned without one day a year ago. After there was another short news about the possible timing of the official release.
And on August 5, just on the promised day, information appeared on how this vehicle was created and certain characteristics were revealed. Quoting the original post: The weight of the hoverboard is 11.5 kg. The magnets inside are cooled with liquid nitrogen to a working temperature of –197 °. The board can work only on special platforms with permanent magnets at the base .
What is the future fate of the project is not very clear.
Flyboard Air
One of the last presented devices, and at the same time the holder of the next world record : 2 km on the hoverboard.
The famous athlete and inventor Frank Zappa , who has been preparing his device for about four years, stands behind Flyboard Air . Before presenting the “flying board”, Zappa became known as the creator of water jet hoverboards with a connected hose.
The Flyboard Air model does without “additional accessories” and is able to stay in the air for up to 10 minutes, while developing a speed of up to 150 km / h. The maximum distance to which the owner of such a device should be ready is 3 km. A device flies on kerosene, which drives 4 engines of 250 liters. With., controlled by the design of the handheld, and the stability of the pilot provides a special fixed shoes.
Needless to say, no attempts were made to create a soaring vehicle either before or after. Boards on magnets somehow appeared on the network for different authorship. In 2010, one of these projects, soaring on skate magnets, was presented by French artist Nils Guadanin:
A year later, again in France, the board swept over the steel rails, lifting several centimeters from the ground. Unlike the Niels project, which is practically “decorative”, this device could already withstand a person:
The hoverboard from the board and leaf blower visited several shows from “Destroyers ...” to “TheGadgetShow”, where Jason Bradbury boasted the design:
Well, the most fun was the project HUVr. Stars advertising in Los Angeles took part in the ad for this hoverboard. However, some viewers began to suspect something when they noticed "threads" that were moving away from the promo participants. Then the company issued a "refutation", recognizing that the video - the idea of a humorous channel. An honest movie, by the way, was also watched by 5 million users!
Hendo
Perhaps the first, most famous project, which partly ensured his success on Kickstarter , where the campaign attracted over half a million dollars, and of course, it was already written about him on Geektimes .
The device is named after the creator, who, according to him, worked on this project for 20 years, keeping it in the strictest confidence. Directly working prototype created already a whole team of 19 people, while maintaining, of course, confidentiality!
Greg Henderson, the founder of the project, offered users a board equipped with four engines that create a magnetic field, and therefore Hendo can only be used in specially created conditions, as specified, on non-ferromagnetic surfaces.
Currently, Arx Pax , which develops Hendo, continues to operate.
ArcaBoard Loud
enough project last year. The video was distributed between users in a matter of days, typing on Youtube almost2 million views , which gave the company some confidence in the success of the project.
However, views could not be converted to money. The campaign on Kickstarter was monstrously unsuccessful and was eventually stopped, having collected a little over $ 1 thousand . of the desired 250.
However, Arca Space continued its activity. Until February 2016, the “flying mattress” could be bought on the official website for $ 19,900, or at the current exchange rate: about 1,273,000 rubles. However, since the second quarter, the company has greatly reduced - by 25% - the price of its device, and ArcaBoard began to cost $ 14,900 , although the difference was “sewn up” in an accessory for fast charging for $ 4,500.
For this amount, you can take a few minutes into the air on a not very nice rectangle, equipped with 36 propellers with a total capacity of 272 liters. with. You can get off the ground by 30 cm to fly for some time at a speed of about 20 km / h.
Omni
This hoverboard is a Guinness record holder . In 2015, the author of the project, a Canadian inventor with a Romanian history, Alexander Duru flew it over 250 meters, rising to 5 meters above the lake.
This version of the Omni from 8 propellers works, and the battery charge lasts for a short 1, 5 minutes of flight, but this project is not commercial either. On the official website now you can find only information that work is underway on a new prototype.
Also some infoappears on the Facebook page , and the video of the first flight - on the official YouTube channel.
Lexus
Quite a popular project on Geektimes, which we first mentioned without one day a year ago. After there was another short news about the possible timing of the official release.
And on August 5, just on the promised day, information appeared on how this vehicle was created and certain characteristics were revealed. Quoting the original post: The weight of the hoverboard is 11.5 kg. The magnets inside are cooled with liquid nitrogen to a working temperature of –197 °. The board can work only on special platforms with permanent magnets at the base .
What is the future fate of the project is not very clear.
Flyboard Air
One of the last presented devices, and at the same time the holder of the next world record : 2 km on the hoverboard.
The famous athlete and inventor Frank Zappa , who has been preparing his device for about four years, stands behind Flyboard Air . Before presenting the “flying board”, Zappa became known as the creator of water jet hoverboards with a connected hose.
The Flyboard Air model does without “additional accessories” and is able to stay in the air for up to 10 minutes, while developing a speed of up to 150 km / h. The maximum distance to which the owner of such a device should be ready is 3 km. A device flies on kerosene, which drives 4 engines of 250 liters. With., controlled by the design of the handheld, and the stability of the pilot provides a special fixed shoes.
Needless to say, no attempts were made to create a soaring vehicle either before or after. Boards on magnets somehow appeared on the network for different authorship. In 2010, one of these projects, soaring on skate magnets, was presented by French artist Nils Guadanin:
A year later, again in France, the board swept over the steel rails, lifting several centimeters from the ground. Unlike the Niels project, which is practically “decorative”, this device could already withstand a person:
The hoverboard from the board and leaf blower visited several shows from “Destroyers ...” to “TheGadgetShow”, where Jason Bradbury boasted the design:
Well, the most fun was the project HUVr. Stars advertising in Los Angeles took part in the ad for this hoverboard. However, some viewers began to suspect something when they noticed "threads" that were moving away from the promo participants. Then the company issued a "refutation", recognizing that the video - the idea of a humorous channel. An honest movie, by the way, was also watched by 5 million users!