Cue the 'Back to the Future' References! The Hoverboard Is Real (Sort Of)

Glasses that let you see the Internet, cars that can make espresso, and… hoverboards? It’s the future, and Marty McFly would totally be wigging out right about now.

The Hendo Hoverboard is a concept created by Arx Pax, a California couple who grabbed the Internet's attentions (and ours) when they launched the idea on Kickstarter and are hoping to get it into the hands of developers by this year.

Though it does have some similarities to the hoverboard we all know and love from “Back to the Future Part II,” it’s not quite there yet. The Hendo Hoverboard only works over non-ferrous metal surfaces, and still has a bit of work to be done in the steering department. The technology behind it consists of hover engines that create a magnetic field underneath the board, allowing it to push against metallic surfaces to float above the ground.

One writer over at GigaOM got to test the Hendo out, and described it as riding “on a giant air hockey puck hovering three quarters of an inch above the ground.” That’s not an incredibly encouraging description, given that the boards are currently priced at $10,000 with batteries that only last 7 minutes.

What is exciting about the tech is the couple’s commitment to allowing others to tinker with it. Arx Pax is offering development kits through their Kickstarter campaign with all of the pieces that go into building their boards. The idea is to get other engineers to figure out how to make the tech sleeker and more efficient, as well as come up with other uses for it. Though the hoverboard is the idea they’ve focused on creating themselves, the couple’s ambitions are on a much grander scale: they’re hoping to see this levitation technology used in everyday life, for all sorts of purposes.

And the fact that this project was created by a former communications worker and architect is pretty inspiring. According to GigaOM, Greg used to read through Wikipedia and daydream about making levitating technology possible.

Which just goes to show: If you’ve got the Internet, access to technology, and an inventive brain, all dreams are possible, no matter how much your teachers love to hate on Wikipedia.

[Screenshot via Kickstarter]