Hendo is probably the closest you will ever get to actually being Marty McFly. The super successful Kickstarter campaign has so far raised nearly double their $250,000 goal, meaning that the 11 lucky folks who pitched in $10K to get themselves the "world's first hoverboard" can expect their new toy in October of next year. For those who backed at least $299, you can expect your Whitebox (which is basically Hendo's tech in a box to do with what you want) in July 2015. If you're unsure why this is cool, just stop reading and watch Back to the Future.
The Hendo hoverboard is designed to float about one inch off the ground and the above video proves that the prototype (their 18th) works. "The hoverboard is simultaneously fascinating and exhilarating. The enabling technologies existed, but no one had yet been able to align them to bring a hoverboard forth. Hendo has done so, and our hoverboards are working in almost every way we could have imagined."
So, how does it work? According to the company, the magic is in the four disc-shaped hover engines on the underside of the board. They "induce an opposing magnetic field in the surface substrate below that provides lift, levitating our board off the ground." It's all very fancy and technological, but basically the company hopes to get us to Marty McFly levels of awesomeness.
"Currently, this surface substrate needs to be a non-ferromagnetic conductor. Right now we use commonly available metals in simple sheets, but we are working on new compounds and new configurations to maximize our technology and minimize costs."
One day the company hopes to make Hendo capable of hovering over any surface—including water—and are in the process of designing a skateboard-inspired park called Hendo Hoverpark to really showcase their technology.
