The engineers and designers are getting serious about building the skateboards of the future, but these will not be regular skateboards, we are talking hyper-maneuverable hover boards. In fact the Online Think Tank is now preparing a special report the Future of Skate Parks, Skateboards and Hover Boards of the Future. Indeed one of the most serious questions is safety.
How can we keep the hover board systems safe for the rider? How will we keep them from dumping their rider when maneuvering upside down asks one Technology Expert from Amherst University in Massachusetts?
Great Question and for your question of Hover Board stabilization, loops, rolls or upside down flight here are some thoughts; We keep the skateboard or hover board in "Positive 'G' Mode" all the time. Just like doing a barrel roll in an airplane, hang glider, parasail or helicopter. If you start with a high-speed steep bank and carry it all the way around you stay in the positive G sector.
In the special report from the Online Think Tank you will see two items in the report's reference section; # 2 and # 8. The board's on-board sensors will sense the weight distribution and adjust it for the rider. Consider the Segway methods or the young scientist who has the Motorcycle that competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge?
This technology is available now and will be further refined in the use of wheel chairs, artificially intelligent robotic android assisted living units and similar gyro systems are used throughout the space, aviation, marine industries. There are six axis communication antennas now used in many sectors. It is just a matter of size, weight, cost and Moore's Law. These sensors and systems will get so small that you can build a Mosquito size flying unit, and they are doing it now. This will help the stabilization system.
Most military fighters now have computerized flight control auto-pilot type systems for launching off an aircraft carrier to dampen the buffeting and to prevent over correction by the human pilot. Also there are system which prevent a pilot from departing from flight by making an impossible maneuver that the plane cannot do.
As the skateboarder puts in a command the board will move, but not allow the rider to be in jeopardy based on the level of play. You might be a beginner, but an advanced rider might turn that system off. Then someone will come along with magnetic boots to affix them for upside down flight without the use of "G-Force" stability techniques and that invention will add to the fun for the most advanced riders. The Skateboard/Hoverboard will merely become a platform "zoom-zoom" and it will have many uses besides just having fun.
The final stages of this technology in the future period will be a hoverboard controlled by thought, like the future HUD systems used in the Apache Attack Helicopters but the helmet used for skateboarding will be a very thin cap of carbon nano-tube material to protect the rider and read the neuron transmissions using an ultra-sound stereo system on an extremely low power setting between the cap and through the skull.
"Your wish is my command and control"
And this is how The Online Think Tank envisions all these integrated stability and control systems will work. And they believe it will work very well too. The question is are the young riders daring enough to go for it? Well, it appears that they are, at least all the ones we asked for the research project that is.
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