The board uses liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors. Image Credit: YouTube / Lexus International
Toyota's luxury car division has revealed that it has been working on its own hovering skateboard.
Efforts to build a working version of Marty McFly's hoverboard from Back to the Future II have been ramping up in recent months and some of the solutions have been undeniably impressive.
Just last month Canadian inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru made it in to the Guinness Book of Records by covering a distance of 900ft while riding a propeller-based hoverboard over a lake.
Now vehicle manufacturer Lexus has decided to enter the fray with its very own version of the hoverboard which uses liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and magnets.
While it isn't quite ready yet the company is sufficiently confident about its latest creation to release a teaser video for it and to invite interested parties to "follow the journey" on social media.
Whether it will be as functional as the one ridden by Marty McFly however remains to be seen.
Their marketing should definitely involve back to the future ads if they can get the rights to do so. By the time they get it on the market,I'll be an old lady anyway. I'd still want to try it!
There are plenty of stuff they could have done even without the rights. A simple ''welcome to 2015'' would have been clear enough what they were referring to.
but will it go over water! From the article: Late last year, a company called Hendo unveiled its own working hoverboard that floats just a few centimeters above ground, and over metal-lined surfaces (Lexus engineers confirmed to Engadget that their board has the same restriction).
Not seeing too many liquid nitrogen filling stations about, and what average teenager could afford the fuel cost anyway? Also guessing you have to have a metallic area to run it over or it won't hover.
Not seeing too many liquid nitrogen filling stations about, and what average teenager could afford the fuel cost anyway? Also guessing you have to have a metallic area to run it over or it won't hover. I can see the headlines now: "Teen Freezes Fingers Off During Hoverboard Fueling Accident!"
The super conductor in principle works the same as atoms operating at a lower harmonic. This method would replace the need for refueling and would be far more effective. The skate board could have a component the size of a coin to do the same job. But common science has not come that far yet.
That skate park is outfitted with a complex system of magnets. Without that skate park, the board doesn't function. It's also quite inefficient given that the liquid nitrogen cartridges must be refilled ever 10 minutes or so.
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