This article was taken from the March 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Sci-fi fans have dreamt of floating on hoverboards since they featured in Back to the Future Part II in 1989. But when Greg Henderson finally built one, the plan was never to ape Marty McFly: he wanted to levitate buildings. "We can save lives and properties with this technology," says Henderson, cofounder of California-based startup Arx Pax. "It's a means of decoupling a structure from the Earth to allow it to survive floods and rising sea levels."
Arx Pax's patented Magnetic Field Architecture creates lift using the circular and electric eddy currents generated when a magnetic field is moved relative to a conductor. The currents create their own magnetic field which, when moved over non-ferromagnetic surfaces such as copper and aluminium, create lift. To demonstrate the technology, Henderson created the Hendo Hoverboard. It uses four disc-shaped "hover engines" embedded with magnets; steering is achieved through algorithms that redirect the board's power based on positioning feedback from onboard sensors. (Ex-professional skater Tony Hawk tested it on the company's in-house copper ramp and is a fan.) A developers' kit will launch in July, with an on-sale date planned for October 21, 2015 -- the date to which McFly time-travelled in the movie.
Arx Pax is experimenting with lower-cost surfaces such as conductive concrete, polymers and graphene; two hover-engine models Henderson describes as "potentially less stable, but more fun"; and a sit-down version for the risk-averse.
But the board is really just a demo: Henderson, a trained architect, wants to license the technology to the manufacturing, healthcare and transport industries. Think earthquake-proof operating theatres, or being able to move contaminated medical waste without it touching the floor. Sounds far-fetched? So did pulling a levitating 360. "Not being a physicist," says Henderson, "I didn't know it was supposed to be impossible." Wheels? Where tech's going we don't need wheels...
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
