Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Segway Hoverdisc

 It will revolutionize cities!
  (+3, -1)
(+3, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

Yeah right. Maybe revolutionize what I do when I'm bored out of my mind though.

So, we all know of the Segway, its mechanics are simple. Little mini gyroscopes send messages to motors. Its all processed so that, a lean forward or backwards will throw the gyroscopes off, sending a message of force, and processing measures to correct the force, thereby moving the scooter, seemlessly.

Okay. So, imagine a big disc with an engine in the center. There are, say, 200 exhaust outlets for said engine covering the circumference of the dics and pointed towards the ground. If you jump on this thing and turn it on, it'll tip you in seconds. However, with the same gyroscopic assembly as the segway, control the arrangement of exaust using a relay intersection of sorts between the engine and its 200 exhaust options. The gyroscopes send messages to a processor which then chooses which arrangement of exhaust tubes to engage in order to correct any unbalancing. The balancing act happens on the order of 60 times a second, with tiny microbursts spitting out of any number of the rim exhaust pipes at any given moment.

This mechanism only balances the hoverboard in the air. Locamotion is controlled by a different system located on board with exhaust parallel to the ground.

Have fun!

—daseva, Jul 14 2005

What, like this? http://www.hammache...m/publish/10321.asp
[DrCurry, Jul 14 2005]

The pilot-less prototype http://bz.pair.com/fun/hov.jpg
Darned if I was going to draw all 200 nozzles, though... [bristolz, Jul 15 2005]

Arbortech Airboard http://www.arbortec...airboard/index.html
An Australian company showcased these at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney [Detly, Jul 15 2005]

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       How BIG is the engine on this vehicle? I would have thought you would need a fair bit of power to run this. Let alone lift you off the ground, then again this is the HB<grumble, grumble>
—skinflaps, Jul 14 2005
   

       Agreed. Reaction-jet control systems are well baked. Figure out how to package a lift system into a device small enough to be called a hoverdisc, and I'll give you a bun.
—Freefall, Jul 14 2005
   

       See link.
—DrCurry, Jul 14 2005
   

       How about a twinning scheme for hoverdiscs?

First, you have to find a buddy who lives on the opposite side of the world. Then, you and he (or he and you, or you and she) each buy an economy hoverdisc. These budget sports items lack any lift- generating device, but have two little bracket-fittings on opposite edges (helpfully marked 'L' and 'R').

Each of you now buys one very large hoop. The hoops are semi- circular, with a diameter (end-to-end distance) of 12,756.301 kilometers, and are made of an adequately stiff material. One end of each hoop fits into one of the sockets on each side of your respective economy hoverboards. Since the diameter of the earth is only 12,756.300km (says Google), you will each float, magically, 50 centimetres above the surface of the ground in your respective countries.
—Basepair, Jul 14 2005
   

       Better to use an enemy rather than a buddy as this person will now remain the human being furthest from you at all times.   

       [DrC] - Fantastic link. I want it.
—wagster, Jul 14 2005
   

       //Better to use an enemy rather than a buddy// Ah, but if you did this and your hated counterpart suddenly stepped off his Economy Hoverboard, you would suddenly be let down. You need a friend on the other board, and preferably one of the same weight.
—Basepair, Jul 14 2005
   

       wagster: if you haven't spent time window shopping in Hammacher Schlemmer, you haven't lived - it's the rich man's Sharper Image.
—DrCurry, Jul 14 2005
   

       It's as much a hovercraft as a pancake is a waffle.   

       The post describes a free flying craft not one bound to the Earth by a skirt.
—bristolz, Jul 15 2005
   

       Thanks, [Bris], no skirts for sure.
—daseva, Jul 15 2005
   

       "It's as much a hovercraft as a pancake is a waffle."
That should be a hb tagline.
—st3f, Jul 15 2005
   

       //It's as much a hovercraft as a pancake is a waffle// [marked-for-tagline] (Does this work??)
—Minimal, Jul 15 2005
   

       We can only make it work.
—daseva, Jul 15 2005
   

       Just use the [marked-for-implementation] tag, and it will be automatically added to the halfbakery software.
—Worldgineer, Jul 15 2005
   

       You could make some crazy smoke patterns depending on how you shifted your balance. That's a neat illustration, [Bris].
—daseva, Nov 01 2006
   


 

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