Hoverboard? Still in the Future

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/technology/hoverboard-still-in-the-future.html

by declan • 12 years ago

74 40 12 years ago

nytimes.com

thisjepisje• 12 years ago

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/technology/hoverboard-stil...

sopooneo• 12 years ago

You need resistance to sideways motion (lateral friction?) for this to work.

btbuildem• 12 years ago

Yeah, they need to polarize the Lorentz force, then they're good to go.

unwind• 12 years ago

It was annoying that the article said:

But when the 190-pound visitor stood atop the 100-pound board, one gentle push was enough to send him spinning across the room over a cushion of air.

This is very poor writing since there is no "cushion of air" involved, the air is not supporting the weight of the board and rider, it's a magnetic system after all. It would probably work almost exactly the same in vacuum.

cLeEOGPw2• 12 years ago

Same reporter on railgun: "And then a powerful cushion of air explodes sending the projectile at Mach 7 towards target further than any other long range weapons in use today.

marknutter2• 12 years ago

Well, he is technically right. There is air underneath it, and it could be described as a cushion, albeit a poor one. Remember he's trying to explain it in terms that non-technical people will understand.

eyeareque2• 12 years ago

Having non-skateboarders demonstrate their invention was a poor choice. They seriously lack the balance needed to make this look appealing.

I hereby offer my balance, free of charge if you need someone :)

newppc• 12 years ago

Exactly what I was thinking...

thefreeman• 12 years ago

The thing is it operates nothing like a skateboard at this point. While skaters would likely have better balance, the fact that there is no lateral friction or way to control yourself means they probably wouldn't have looked much better.

Still a cool prototype though.

eyeareque2• 12 years ago

I'm sure there would be a small learning curve but I am positive I could get used to it. I've done other sports that do not have much lateral friction (on water).

yassim• 12 years ago

Some interesting rewards in the Kickstarter. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/142464853/hendo-hoverbo...

I do like the White box idea. I wonder though at the price where they start and if thats going to eat the profit generated. (I don't know, they could be very cheap to produce at scale.)

mrfusion4• 12 years ago

Does anyone know if the physics checks out? Can producing an eddy current create a repelling force that levitates? Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

lotsofmangos4• 12 years ago

Is the same principle as electromagnetic forming that is commonly used in industry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_forming

ridgeguy2• 12 years ago

Yeah, it's a Lorentz force, an induced current->field that repels the excitation field. More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current

HCIdivision17• 12 years ago

I think it has been 'rediscovered' many times, but it's hard to market, since it requires a special platform to run on (even if it's just a sheet-o-metal). Sorta like how you can build a hovercraft out of a leaf blower and some plywood, but generally not used in every day life, despite the coolness. If we could have long, smooth sheets of copper laid out, I'd be pretty thrilled; might need to grab an asteriod to make it cheap enough, though.

Also, nice nick; possibly the most apropos I've seen in a while :)

cLeEOGPw2• 12 years ago

Maybe in future children will play with hoverboards ON asteroid made of copper? :D

DanBC2• 12 years ago

Drop a strong magnet down a copper tube - it's freaky the first few times you do it.

http://youtu.be/keMpUaoA3Tg

Copper is a bit expensive! I'd love to know where to get a bit of pipe like that.

mrfusion4• 12 years ago

I guess this needs to operate over a conductive surface? Would saltwater work?

ridgeguy2• 12 years ago

It does, and saltwater isn't conductive enough. The effect degrades the lower the electrical conductivity of the medium in which eddy currents are formed. Pretty much requires something like copper or silver (or gold!) for high enough conductivity to make it work. A superconducting surface works great for this.

mrfusion4• 12 years ago

How about aluminum?

DontBeADick• 12 years ago

I thought I just read a few months ago that we'd have superconducting EM drive hoverboards any day now?

How disappointing...

snarfy• 12 years ago

Stick four or five of these on a skateboard:

http://www.jetcatusa.com/p60.html

subb• 12 years ago

I don't want an hoverboard. I want an hovercar. Replace roads with a sheet of copper and put grass over it.

tormeh3• 12 years ago

I don't think you truly appreciate the price of copper. There are copper thieves, but not asphalt ones.

lotsofmangos4• 12 years ago

I don't think you truly appreciate the ingenuity of thieves. By the way, I was just passing and wondered if you needed your driveway paving? You see, we have this extra load of asphalt that we didn't need on our last job...

smlacy• 12 years ago

Someone forgot Newton's 1st Law of Motion, and it's evident in all these videos. In other words: It's impossible to steer a device like this .

wes-exp• 12 years ago

Nonsense. It could be steered (well, maybe rotated) with flywheels :)

lotsofmangos4• 12 years ago

If it is impossible to steer a device like this, explain the whitebox+ with directional control from your smartphone that they are offering.

The thing works on repulsive eddy forces that always oppose the field you create. If you angle the field, you should get lateral forces.

edit - thinking about it, you do not have to angle the field, you just need to move it. Also, if you move the device it should automatically resist the motion due to the currents created. With some accelerometers feeding back into controlling the motion of the field, it should be even be possible to give the device what feel like edges to make it behave like a snowboard.

marknutter2• 12 years ago

I don't really get why a hoverboard would be better than a regular skateboard anyways. It's a solution looking for a problem.

chaghalibaghali• 12 years ago

The ground's surface wouldn't matter - skateboards are generally limited to (or at least work best on) flat, smooth surfaces.

Pxtl• 12 years ago

Because hoverboard. That's really the beginning and the end of it. It's not supposed to be better at anything. It's a hoverboard.

ljk• 12 years ago

it get get around this: http://www.skatestoppers.com/Images-Photopage/install09.jpg :p

chton• 12 years ago

Now that their kickstarter is up, people are already streaming in to back it. I bet most of them will completely gloss over this gem of a sentence: "Currently, this surface needs to be a non-ferromagnetic conductor."

While it does have some applications even with that limitation, it's far from a practical hoverboard, and it's very misleading to be talking about other uses of the technology as if it already exists. They seem to be getting ahead of themselves by extolling their "design focus" when they don't have the product people expect from them yet, and possibly (probably) never will.

pseudometa• 12 years ago

The Verge has a better video on the device: http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/21/7025795/riding-hendos-hov...

mrfusion4• 12 years ago

Does anyone know how built in batteries can provide enough power to support a 190 lb person?

Hoverboard? Still in the Future

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