So it’s 2015 and everyone are asking where their hover-boards are. After all Back to the Future foretold the future in much the same way that the Jetsons and pretty much everyone back in the 60’s did. We should be traveling in vacuum tubes and flying in cars while our robotic butlers do the cleaning and house work. The reality of things seems fairly far off, but when you take a closer look you may notice that the future is actually closer then it appears.
For starters back in the Jetsons we had Rosie who ran around vacuuming, although possibly not as intelligent as Rosie, we do have small electronic vacuum cleaners which interestingly enough were based on an algorithm developed for military applications. Of course that shouldn’t be too surprising considering we did the same thing with Radar and the microwave.
Looking a little closer to Back to the Future’s predictions we may not have tiny pizzas that hydrate into delicious full sized pizzas, but Nike is planning on making the self tying shoes.
As for Hoverboards which are the hot topic of debate these days we do have a few not so great hoverboards, let’s call them prototypes in the works at the moment. Recently there was a Kickstarter by Hendo who did create a functional hoverboard. The campaign has already ended, but the board isn’t exactly what you might expect. It really only works on a special surface and it hovers a small distance above the ground, apparently the creator intends on using the technology to float buildings in case of emergencies in the future. Seems like a noble effort to me, but if you’re interested in roleplay Marty Mcfly this isn’t the board you’re looking for.
The second hoverboard prototype that i’m aware of operates more like Goblin’s glider from Spiderman, but if the Guinness world record people accept it as a hoverboard then so shall I. It does have certain limitations, and apparently it’s only considered safe to fly over water as well as apparently running for a limited amount of time it does reach an impressive height, and honestly it looks like a whole lot of fun. It does fall short of the hoverboard image, but even if you were looking forward to this hitting the market you may be in for a world of disappointment as apparently the creator has no intention making it available to the public.
So we may not have mass produced hoverboards, and we may not even have hoverboards in the style of Back to the Future, but the way I see it we seem to be heading in the right direction.
My name is Chris Diel and when i’m not pondering the future of Hoverboards i’m a DJ for KSSU
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