Artist creates Back to the Future hoverboard -- that actually hovers (video)

Don't expect to ride it on solid ground -- much less water -- but what you see above is indeed a hoverboard that floats. Using electromagnets embedded in the podium and a laser system to measure its position, artist Nils Guadagnin has managed to keep a familiar-looking pink plank aloft, a full five years and five months before the real deal supposedly sees common use. Give the man a pair of kicks, a car and a flux capacitor, and he'll be all set. Video after the break.

[Eternity Posted May 28th 2010 5:15PM]

GREAT SCOTT!

[JedixJarf Posted May 28th 2010 5:19PM]

@Eternity

win

[naz Posted May 28th 2010 5:22PM]

@Eternity

Dreams DO come true!

lol

[RLBurkes Posted May 28th 2010 5:44PM]

@naz Whats the word for win that floats?

[PlatinumSkeet Posted May 28th 2010 5:46PM]

@Eternity

Someday someone is going to be able to create a real working hoverboard and whoever that person is will be a billionaire overnight.

[TjK Posted May 28th 2010 5:49PM]

@RLBurkes a boat full of win?

[ebloomca Posted May 28th 2010 6:16PM]

@Eternity

Damn, Damn!

[Heratiki Posted May 28th 2010 6:50PM]

@RLBurkes FLIN!!!!

[DoubleEBrandonB Posted May 28th 2010 6:57PM]

@Eternity

By 2015 we will almost certainly see Jaws 19 3D, luckily it won't look anything like Max Headroom though.

[engadgetcomexcludeengadget Posted May 28th 2010 7:17PM]

Shouldn't this go in alt? It's just powered by magnets, which have been around forever. Not really "tech".

[Eternity Posted May 28th 2010 8:43PM]

@PlatinumSkeet
Maybe apple.....
But won't be able to patent it because of prior art. ;)

[Eternity Posted May 28th 2010 8:47PM]

@DoubleEBrandonB

By 2015 there won't be any Ocean left to film Jaws. It will be destroyed by oil spills.

[Cy Starkman Posted May 28th 2010 9:01PM]

@PlatinumSkeet

I'm more interested in YT's board from snow crash with telescopic polyp style sticky wheels that can go down stairs or over pot holes etc.

[dark star Posted May 28th 2010 9:03PM]

@PlatinumSkeet
no dude. If u really want to be a billionaire overnight, make a real Enzyte! U b rich n famous worldwide. Maybe more than bill gates hehe

[griffman Posted May 28th 2010 11:01PM]

@PlatinumSkeet w/o a doubt. I will buy two, regardless of how expensive they are. One to wreck it, because THAT will happen, and the other for a backup. Can I just pre-order now? Who WOULDN'T want one?!

[Ultracrepidation Posted May 29th 2010 12:27AM]

@engadgetcomexcludeengadget Agreed. This is stupendous, and Engadget should give it exposure--but examples such as this are exactly the raison d'être for ALT.

[manofchao5 Posted May 29th 2010 12:37AM]

@Eternity
so the future of our society's transportation lies in burying magnets in the ground and using hovering skateboards to move round.
Air-grind anyone?

[mynando Posted May 29th 2010 8:14AM]

@Eternity Olivia Munn is gonna be so excited that she's closer to her dream!

[Imran Posted May 29th 2010 9:55AM]

@Eternity

This is heavy..

[mikeaguilar95m Posted May 29th 2010 11:52AM]

@Eternity
mag lev, i did this like in 7th grade

[revelated Posted May 29th 2010 11:57AM]

@PlatinumSkeet Until they get sued by soccer moms whose brats injure themselves by going too fast and not using padding.

[fourthletter Posted May 29th 2010 1:11PM]

@PlatinumSkeet

...and bankrupt within the year from pending accident lawsuits.

[Judd Posted May 29th 2010 8:31PM]

@Eternity
Imagine the skating rink possibilities...

[nic247 Posted Jul 6th 2010 1:31PM]

you wanna hover... check out www.coolboard.co.uk , it din't go anywhere but it feels like you hovering!

[Kingsley Posted May 28th 2010 5:19PM]

Why has no one invented one of these that really works yet?! None of the cool stuff's been invented :(

[st33ld13hl Posted May 28th 2010 5:22PM]

@Kingsley yeah no kidding. I made something similar to that in Elementary school with magnets. They should be WAY beyond this by now.

[mnhthebest Posted May 28th 2010 5:23PM]

@Kingsley

No one is ready to invest bucketloads of money for a niche product. They did invest to create the floating Maglev trains though.

[daewootech Posted May 28th 2010 5:40PM]

@Kingsley because it doesn't run on a oil based product. if they did make it there would be a special interest group that comes out with a report claiming that theyre unsafe because they dont make noise like real skateboards so it would create more accidents....

[CaryHiroyuki Tagawa Posted May 28th 2010 5:48PM]

@daewootech

You must be one of them "special people" -- we call them environmentalists.

Let me know when they produce viable wind and solar power, and people will actually get involved in it. You know, viable power that doesn't take up 400,000 acres to produce 0.00004 kilowatts of electricity. (slight exaggeration)

[falsecut740 Posted May 28th 2010 6:25PM]

@Kingsley I don't think I've ever gone from such a state of ecstatic joy, to such disappointment in my entire life.....

[DoubleEBrandonB Posted May 28th 2010 6:56PM]

@mnhthebest

Niche market?! "HELLO McFLY!!" clearly hoverboards are a re-use of hover-car technology.

[Glitch Posted May 29th 2010 8:20AM]

@st33ld13hl They are, this is an artists work, not an engineer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev_(transport)

Advances in science may eventually make it possible. For instance, a room temperature superconductor would probably help - assuming it'd be magnet based at all. In other words, there's a lot of factors required to make it a reality. In the end, is there a market, and why would you want one apart from it being "cool"? Might not be worth making even if it were possible.

[yarqgc Posted May 29th 2010 2:59PM]

@CaryHiroyuki Tagawa

Why don't you make like a tree and get outta here?

[MikeyVesagas Posted May 28th 2010 5:19PM]

YAY

[Nutsy Posted May 28th 2010 5:22PM]

YAY and theres only 5 years to go till this has to become commercial :p and we need rocket power as well...

[DoctarPeppar Posted May 28th 2010 5:22PM]

I always thought that the segway was going to be an actual working hovercraft (before it was actually presented) -- too bad it wasn't.

[AndrewSLC Posted May 28th 2010 5:23PM]

We are only 5 years from the future in "Back to the Future II." We need to get caught up on a lot of tech!!!

[ebloomca Posted May 28th 2010 6:17PM]

@AndrewSLC

Time circuits on. Flux Capacitor... fluxxing. Engine running. All right!

[Plothole Posted May 28th 2010 7:48PM]

@AndrewSLC
Biometric door locks: Check
Thin, big *** TVs: Check
"Digital waiters": Check
Video calls: Check
Roll-able displays: In development
Robotic trash collector: In development
Flying cars: In development (though most likely still won't be practical in five years)
Self drying clothes: Possibly in development
Hoverboards: ...*sigh*

[Funke Tobias Dr Posted May 28th 2010 10:02PM]

@Plothole
Ahem, I don't know about you, but I'm still waiting for my Gray's Sports Almanac...

[IronLantern Posted May 28th 2010 5:23PM]

That's heavy Doc...

[Drybones5 Posted May 28th 2010 5:39PM]

@IronLantern

Whats is with you and the word Heavy?

Has Earth's gravity increased in the future?!

[Oscar Olim Posted May 29th 2010 9:43AM]

@Drybones5
Actually that's is a wrong line in the movie. If gravity had increased in the future, then things would be lighter for Marty, not heavier. For them to be heavier, means the gravity in the future has decreased.

[DigitalDali Posted May 28th 2010 5:24PM]

One step closer to get me a flying car, finally?

[Seryous Posted May 28th 2010 5:25PM]

OMG MAGETS!!! ive never seen magnets before

[aMac Posted May 28th 2010 5:40PM]

Fuckin' magnets...

[SPENone Posted May 28th 2010 5:42PM]

@aMac

how do they work?

[ebloomca Posted May 28th 2010 6:18PM]

@Seryous

What happens to us in the future? Do we become assholes or something?

[boxieblue Posted May 28th 2010 5:28PM]

5 years to cover the earth with whatever's on that podium? i want to see someone stand on it!

[BeanieRobert2001 Posted May 28th 2010 5:29PM]

Does it work on water?