Remember that scene in the classic 80’s movie Back to the Future Part II, where Marty McFly escapes a group of bullies using a floating skateboard known as a hoverboard? If you do, you probably spent your childhood longing for one of those bad boys and wondering when technology would catch up to the 2015 depicted in the film. Well, it looks like we’ve managed to make it a reality, and just before the cut-off date, too! Join us after the jump for video evidence!

The HENDO Hoverboard, created by American Greg Henderson, is said to recreate the actual levitating action depicted in the film by utilizing maglev (as in maglev trains) technology. Due to go on sale in October 2015 with a hefty price tag of US$10,000 per board, the project came about after a campaign on Kickstarter helped raise the necessary funds to support development. The hoverboard utilizes MFA (Magnetic Field Architecture) to hover at a height of 2.5 centimetres above a metal surface (either aluminium or copper).

The sale date may be especially significant for fans of the movie, as after all it was on October 21, 2015 that a Marty McFly from 1985 performed his bully-defying floaty stunt.

Check out this video of the hoverboard in action!

As excited as we are over this physical manifestation of our childhood dreams, we can’t help but notice that this means the hoverboard will only float as long as there is a metal surface underneath it. Perhaps in the future sidewalks will have dedicated “hoverboard tracks”, but we’re still a little sad that we won’t be able to off-road on our boards. Oh well, even in the movie the hoverboard had its limitations. As Marty McFly found out the hard way, hoverboards don’t work on water.

As explained in the above video, the hoverboard’s developers had pretty noble ambitions for the technology, envisioning how it could be used to keep homes safe in case of earthquakes, as well as a range of other possible applications including space exploration, manufacturing and in the transport industry. We feel a little guilty now for only caring about how fun it would be to zoom around town on our hoverboards.

Still, you know what they say – childhood dreams die hard!

Source: Fashionsnap
Images: Fashionsnap, Kinja, Collegehumor