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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Gizmodo- Did Lexus Make a Working Hoverboard?

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Wait a Minute, Did Lexus Actually Make a Working Hoverboard?

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Andrew Liszewski
Filed to: HOVERBOARDS 6/23/15 7:00pm
Wait a Minute, Did Lexus Actually Make a Working Hoverboard?
The latest video in Lexus’ Amazing in Motion series reveals what the company is claiming is a working hoverboard that manages to float about an inch off the ground. It’s a far cry from what we saw in Back to the Future 2, but has the carmaker brought us one step closer to our dreams?
We’ve seen plenty of hoverboards and hover toys and hover miscellanery over the years, and they all rely on super-strong magnets to stay aloft. But the more weight you intend to add, the colder and stronger those magnets need to be. Lexus claims its hoverboard uses liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets to support an actual rider, hence the foggy mist coming off the board.
Wait a Minute, Did Lexus Actually Make a Working Hoverboard?
We reached out to Lexus for more information about its supposed breakthrough, but so far the company has been very tight-lipped about the specifics. It did reveal that the hoverboard has been in development for over 18 months by teams in both Germany and London, and it’s currently being tested by a professional skateboarder in Barcelona, although riding it is supposedly an entirely different experience.
Wait a Minute, Did Lexus Actually Make a Working Hoverboard?
When it comes to hoverboards, we desperately want to believe. After all, 2015 is here, and it looks nothing like the future predicted in Back to the Future 2. Why shouldn’t we have floating skateboards by now?
But there are lots of clues that give us reason not to get our hopes up this time. Every hover device that relies on superconductors only works on a special magnetic surface, and this board appears to be floating on concrete at a regular old skate park. Update: Lexus has admitted that the board only works on special metallic surfaces, and that’s not just concrete seen in that video.
The video also doesn’t actually show someone riding it, although Lexus has promised more videos of it being tested, just not right now. So what do you think? Is this just another publicity stunt loosely based on existing science? Or has Lexus actually managed to get a working facsimile of Marty McFly’s second coolest ride?
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  • NorbsAndrew Liszewski
    6/23/15 7:06pm
    What’s funny about all of hoverboard stuff is even if they figure out how to levitate it, it will be nothing like a skate board more like an snowboard that you can’t carve on. There won’t be any friction in any direction... so it won’t just glide forward, it will glide in just about any direction it starts moving in with little to no control or ability to change direction.
    Sorry for being the Debbie downer.
    150Reply
      • NorbsSean Hodgins
        6/23/15 7:17pm
        So far most “hoverboard” required some special surface and worked with electromagnets not thrusters. So yeah, I really don’t know what it would require to maintain proper lateral motion. I’m just saying that even if people crack the big levitation part, the lateral motion part is not going to be simple.
        10Reply
        • lynxonyxNorbs
          6/23/15 7:17pm
          A fin system to interact with the ground underneath could easily make it able to turn and maneuver... similar to how a surf board works.
          5Reply
          • Norbslynxonyx
            6/23/15 7:20pm
            You’d have to be going very fast for the air passing a fin to actually have much of an impact. Probably so fast that if you had to stop you’d be fucked.
            45Reply
          • ArkenAndrew Liszewski
            6/23/15 7:02pm
            I think the chances that this is a publicity stunt are much higher than the chance that they just happened to get a working hoverboard figured out in the same year BTTF II took place.
            72Reply
              • AnnS.catalysto
                6/23/15 7:18pm
                So they’ll just unveil it officially in the late October/early November 2015 timeframe - when Marty went into the future with Doc. Ok, I can live with that. ;D
                3Reply
                • DisplaynameArken
                  6/23/15 7:26pm
                  Or they thought it would be a great publicity to have a working hover board prototype in the same year as BttF and started working on it 18 months ago.
                  7Reply
                  • ArkenDisplayname
                    6/23/15 7:27pm
                    And somehow made it work even though no one else could because they had 18 months? There are people who have spent years trying to make them.
                    2Reply
                  • The ArtgineerAndrew Liszewski
                    6/23/15 7:48pm
                    If this board shaped liquid nitrogen box hovering over magnets looks that incredible to you, I suggest you head to your local high school and ask the Physics teaching to show you all the awesome experiments he’s been showing students for decades!
                    27Reply
                    • curvedequatorThe Artgineer
                      6/23/15 8:06pm
                      Superconductors and strong magnets also work just as well upside down as they do right-side up :) There really isn't anything new about this, and I'm not sure why Lexus wants to ride the hype train. One could easily make this with a floor made of strong magnets and a large high-temperature superconductor ceramic (dipped in liquid nitrogen). 
                      6Reply
                          • TomatoRocketFanncurvedequator
                            6/24/15 11:43am
                            I’m not sure why Lexus wants to ride the hype train.
                            Because drawing attention to their brand is how they attract customers and make money.
                            2Reply
                            • Walkin_mncesar-online
                              6/23/15 8:46pm
                              The problem is that we don’t even know how does gravity work or where does it come from, so antigravity is very far from reality
                              8Reply
                              • cesar-onlineWalkin_mn
                                6/23/15 9:04pm
                                Ah yes, I know. It’s pretty depressing that on of the fundamental forces of the universe is a complete mystery.
                                It could as well be fueled by pixie’s dust as far as we know.
                                4Reply
                                  • matthewdtwoAndrew Liszewski
                                    6/23/15 7:26pm
                                    I’m glad somebody finally did this with the super conductors. I’ve been waiting for it since I saw a video on “quantum levitation” using them years ago - 
                                    14Reply
                                        • curvedequatorNorbs
                                          6/23/15 8:19pm
                                          The surface needs to be made out of strong magnets, in this case. This could be a floor of permanent magnets, or a floor made out of an array of electromagnets which turn on whenever the superconductor is floating over. Obviously when the temperature rises too much, the ceramic is no longer a superconductor and the Meissner effect stops. It’s challenging to keep a board like this at low enough temperatures for any appreciable amount of time though.
                                          5Reply
                                        • Danny SteigerAndrew Liszewski
                                          6/23/15 7:23pm
                                          I could be wrong, but something about the perspective and distances looks off with the guy and his shadow and the hoverboard and its shadow. Can't quite put my finger on it. Anyone seeing that too?
                                          2Reply
                                          • Grem89Danny Steiger
                                            6/23/15 8:00pm
                                            I think its from the effect of having multiple lightsources illuminating the scene. The lighting looks very artificial 
                                            1Reply
                                            • sledgeDanny Steiger
                                              6/23/15 9:28pm
                                              ..watch the angle of the shadow as the foot 1st steps into view in the final shot and see how it changes as he takes that last step, faces the board & lifts his foot to set it down on the thing.. why would a shadow change angles like that if it was shot in sunlight??.. the shadow is pointing towards the bottom left corner of the frame as the guy puts his foot down next to the board & while he is standing and lifting his foot to put it on the board the shadow swings across & ends up pointing towards the bottom right..... 
                                              2Reply

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