Today in Longshots: Hoverboards Proposed by 2015

Listen, you guys: I get it. Just like everyone else, I've wanted a hoverboard ever since I saw Back to the Future Part II. It's human nature.

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Indiegogo

Listen, you guys: I get it. Just like everyone else, I’ve wanted a hoverboard ever since I saw Back to the Future Part II. It’s human nature.

But I’m not going to get my hopes up for a working hoverboard by 2015, as the Open Source Hoverboard Project over on Indiegogo is pushing to achieve. Like any American, I’ll complain that hoverboards don’t exist, poo-poo the idea that people will be able to create a working one by 2015, and then celebrate the triumph of the human spirit if it actually happens.

If there’s one small catch with this project, it’s that the people looking to cobble this thing together are seeking a million bucks worth of funding:

The funds will be used in various ways. At first, we’ll need to setup an online development center using “Hoverboards.org” where we can store all the information collected from the various teams working on the project around the world. Then, we will need to come up with a few designs that are cost-feasible and start the prototyping process. Anyone in product design and/or development knows that prototyping can get expensive, so we want to be prepared for the challenges ahead. Once we have a working prototype, we’ll need to create an iPhone and Android app that will be used to control the Hoverboard.

The idea of making this an open source project is a good one, as it opens the door for the best and the brightest to contribute ideas, but the woeful state of battery technology coupled with the weight of the rider counteracting the “omni-direction tubeaxial blowers” makes this whole thing seem like a longshot.

That being said, you know what else was a longshot? Marty McFly traveling to the year 1955 to steal Grey’s Sports Almanac from Biff, saving Hill Valley from an alternate 1985 where Biff is filthy rich and married to Lorraine.

Open Source Hoverboard Project [Indiegogo via Chip Chick]