You will believe that a man can fly... on a hoverboard.
That icon of future technology, the hoverboard has been a dream for many since the 1989 release of Back to the Future Part II. Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly flew on a pink hoverboard — the future's version of a skateboard — in that movie, but it was just Hollywood magic. The year depicted in that movie, 2015, is here, but while some of the technology the movie predicted has come to pass, we're still lacking several others. Chief among them: the hoverboard.
But maybe we can chalk one more item up to real-life 2015 after all.
A Canadian inventor named Catalin Alexandru Duru has built and successfully tested what he calls "the first real-life hoverboard" that can be stood on and "controlled with your feet." Duru's hoverboard is powered not by magnetics, as in the movie, but by small propellers. It's a bit too large and unwieldy to function in everyday life, but it's still an impressive piece of homemade engineering.
When Duru tested his hoverboard on Lake Ouareau in Quebec, he set out to achieve a new Guinness World Record for "longest journey on a hoverboard." To succeed at this, he needed to fly at least 50 meters, or 164 feet. Not only did he hit the record, he surpassed it more than five times over, achieving a ride of 276 meters, or 905 feet.
Duru remarked that his hoverboard can be flown anywhere, but he usually tests it over water since it can reach dangerous heights. It took him a full year to build, and he has plans to test its maximum height capabilities in the future.
He never got around to addressing the big question, though: When will his hoverboards enter production for consumer daredevils to try out? If he ever does it, he'd better make sure there's a model that comes in pink.
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