Flying Platforms & Hoverboards

Flying Platforms from the 50s and 60s:






Something more recent, yet inconvinient and bulky looking:



Considering that Flying Platforms were already being experimented with a century ago, why did they never make it to general public use?

Surely our dream of flying, floating and hovering is not satisfied by sitting in crowded airplanes.

What would it feel like to hover through town, stop for some shopping, then hover on through the woods and mountains and back home?

This video exemplifies what we mean by Hoverboard (based on the movie Back to the Future II):




How could we make the dream come true?

Maybe with the AIRBOARD


[edit on 25-9-2008 by Skyfloating]

The ultimate inspiration for Hoverboards probably comes from this classic movie scene:

Some background info on the possible real thing (from wikipedia "Hoverboards"):

Attempts to produce the experience of a Hoverboard with available technology have involved hovercraft (or air-cushion) vehicles.

Director Robert Zemeckis once joked that Hoverboards were real during an interview, where he claimed that the technology really existed, and parent groups simply would not allow toy manufacturers to produce and market them.[1] [edit]

Several companies have drawn on currently available hovercraft technology to create hoverboard-like products. Alternatively, the Airboard is a disc shaped hovercraft a bit over 6 ft in diameter, but does not resemble the Hoverboard depicted in Back to the Future II. Rumors circulated in 2001 that inventor Dean Kamen's new invention, codenamed Ginger, was a transportation device resembling the Hoverboard. In reality Ginger was the Segway Human Transporter, a self-balancing two-wheeled electric transportation device. [edit]References

An Airboard Video:




These guys are going for the real thing.

Yeah I wish we had those things for real too, so cool.

I like the first flying platform video the most.

the only thing that comes close to a hoverboard is indeed that Airboard.

and even that is illegal on the road here

Other or related projects and attempts:

Future Horizons Hoverboard

The Air Car

The Flymo

I think one day hover boards will probably happen I can see some kind of static field or something keeping them on an invisible cushion I'd love to try one myself but whether they get here in time is another matter.

Another potential platform I saw a clip of in a documentry recently (name escapes me unfortunately) was the Geep.



I looked for the clip I saw before online and didn't have much luck I only found this page

Geep

From the clip I saw it really did appear to move like a hover car or something similar it was strange seeing a black and white movie of something that looked so advanced.

Maybe someone else will have better luck finding the video of it.

Grey Magic: Maybe someone/something doesnt want to grant us that much freedom.

Teknikal: Ive never seen that before. Very cool.



[edit on 25-9-2008 by Skyfloating]

Originally posted by Teknikal
I think one day hover boards will probably happen I can see some kind of static field or something keeping them on an invisible cushion tter luck finding the video of it.

Any idea about the physics of this?

The first video is absolutely amazing, I would love to have one of these things, I'd fly low over the mountains first thing with my dog and send him off on a fruitless squirrel hunt deep in the forest.

I'm not sure which craft came first, but the first video, of ma-and-pa's flying barrel manuvering around a forest scene, no less. Just excellent. Just what exactly is giving it the ability to hover like that... I don't see any fans or turbines or jets or any technology I know of... Is it anti-gravity technology? I've seen videos of antigravity flying platforms but not anything powered from within and with proper stabilization/control techonology.

Either way,

I want it

Pretty Please?

Yeah I know.

They rather have us paying for a road straight through nature because they earn more that way...

I find the first video the most amazing too.

Considering how old it is you would have thought they might have developed the technology a little in the meantime.

The internal power source and efficiency level being comparable to at least a helicopter is what holds it back... Although there is some promising ducted fan vectored thrust projects coming along in Israel from what I hear.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Let's say it's a field effect. Something would be needed to channel and steer it.

Mag-lev trains require a track. The effect only operates with sufficient strength at small distances.

So, even assuming a 'gravity-repulsive' effect, how would you steer it and keep 'board' from flipping over or sliding all around.

On snowboards, you have the 'edge' which carves.

You'd need something equivalent.

2 cents.

Edit:
From Wiki: Mag-Lev Trains; Guidance

Some systems use Null Flux systems these use a coil which is wound so that it enters two opposing, alternating fields. When the vehicle is in the straight ahead position, no current flows, but if it moves off-line this creates a changing flux that generates a field that pushes it back into line.

[edit on 27/9/2008 by Badge01]

I vaguely recall something about testing anti-grav saucers at Area 51, and the comment was made about them being fearful of starting one up, because once it was activated, there would be no guarantee it wouldn't just start side slipping and they wouldn't know how to stop it.

Though that's interesting and could be a property of concern, it's also difficult to imagine how one would adjust the height. What would keep the craft under 'repulsion' from just heading up into the air? It wouldn't necessarily keep a constant altitude on its own.

Controlling the movement would be a real problem. Assuming a gravity field would be irresistibly powerful, what could stop it; would even running into a hillside stop it?

How does inertia and friction operate when something is using a gravity repulsion field? Does it automatically cancel out inertia?

Also, what would be the effect on the human body to be near a strong gravity repulsion field? Would it be like standing in a high EM field and be damaging to body systems and organs?

My point is, even if we had 'anti-grav', controlling it, shielding it, and steering it would be a new set of possibly insolvable problems.

2 cents.

[edit on 27/9/2008 by Badge01]

Originally posted by Skyfloating
How could we make the dream come true?

In case you haven't read it, Sky. It's called the Emdrive.

Chinese Say They're Building 'Impossible' Space Drive

Relativity drive: The end of wings and wheels?

More advanced versions might allow cars to lift from the ground and hover. It could even lead to aircraft that will not need wings at all. I can't help thinking that it sounds too good to be true.

Who knows?

reply to post by Jazzyguy


They're doing something like that for satellites:

ieeexplore.ieee.org...

Abstract
Satellite formation flying is an enabling technology for many space missions, especially for space based telescopes. Electromagnetic formation flying (EMFF) is a novel concept that uses superconducting electromagnetic coils to provide forces and torques between different satellites in a formation.

They use the EM-repulsive forces to move them around in orbit, according to a segment of the History Channel program I saw recently.

Thanks for the reading material guys.

Jazzguy: Im surprised I missed that in the news.

Any of you have any idea what technology they might be using in that very first 1950s video posted?

reply to post by Skyfloating


Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.






Seriously? Check out the Hiller VZ-1 "Pawnee" (1955)





en.wikipedia.org...


Also the Williams WR19 "Flying Trashcan". It was a small jet engine but was canceled. F107 turbofan


But it was in the 1960s.





[edit on 28/9/2008 by Badge01]