EVER since Marty McFly arrived in 2015 in “Back to the Future Part II” and discovered a levitating skateboard, people have tried to make one for real. But the film’s prediction, made in 1989, never quite came true. Although so-called hoverboards have created quite a public splash this Christmas (see Schumpeter) they do not really count. They use a wheel (or wheels) to do their “hovering”, with fancy electronics and stabilisers keeping them upright. A few boards that really do hover, employing magnets for the task, have been demonstrated—but these work only over appropriate metal surfaces. Various lash-ups, including one powered by four leaf-blowers that seems more hovercraft than hoverboard, have also appeared. Film of hoverboarders gliding across a car park in Los Angeles turned out to be an elaborate YouTube hoax.
As 2015 turns into 2016, however, something resembling the real thing is going on sale. The ArcaBoard (pictured) does, admittedly, look like a giant iPhone case rather than a skateboard....Continue reading
Source: Science and technology http://ift.tt/1JZHFbf
EmoticonEmoticon