One of the amazing things about drone technology is how people have quickly found other applications for its use. And one of those areas that really grabs our attention? Hoverboards.
Drone technology continues to improve by leaps and bounds. It seems there are always better flight controllers, more powerful batteries, more efficient motors. And it’s never long before someone smart takes that same technology and applies it elsewhere. In the example we’re about to see, it’s hoverboards that can carry an adult.
And that you’ll soon be able to buy.
Take flight
We have no idea what the regulations are around hoverboards, but suspect this may well become a topic of conversation before long. Why? Because we’re starting to see more videos of these devices. This one, from a TikTok user, caught our attention:
And that got us looking at Hunter Kowald’s TikTok account. The entrepreneur, who is about to market this hoverboard (and, in fact, already is with these videos), has a *ton* of hoverboard videos up:
Cool…
Yes, we agree. You can see Hunter is holding a wireless throttle controller in his hand, and it’s a safe assumption that a flight controller used in drones is keeping the drone stable. It’s unclear if it’s simply shifting weight that controls trajectory, but that would be our assumption. Hunter has also been pumping out the videos on YouTube, with multiple vids posted in the past few days:
Now add jets
Seeing these reminded us of someone else in this field – Franky Zapata. You may recall seeing his jet-powered Flyboard. You get a decent look at it, as well as Zapata’s flying skills, in this video:
But the original?
Well, that honor belongs to Alexandru Duru, a Canadian and the brains behind Omni Hoverboards. He was, to the best of our knowledge, the very first to build one of these devices. In fact, we first reached out to him in 2016 via LinkedIn to congratulate him on a record-setting flight he made back then.
And now? He’s still at it:
The CBC actually did a pretty thorough story a few years back about Alexandru. It’s a great little story, and well worth your time.
How much and when?
Well, we saw a price of $20,000 float by the other day in a post somewhere. There’s no official price listed on the Omni Hoverboards website. The site does allow you to sign up for news about the commercial version, and we’re on the list. We would seriously fly one of these, given the chance.
And, undoubtedly, there are more designs to come.
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