Opinion

All I Want for Christmas: A Hoverboard!

We are coming to the end of 2015 and there are a couple of things that have been the talk of the year. We saw many great things come through this year and I’m glad SpaceX successfully landed an unmanned rocket upright before the end of the year. That will be the talk of generations to come as it is the first time we can think of man being able to reuse rockets.

But this post is about something I have really wanted to own this year: a hoverboard.

Electric Hoverboard

When you critically look at this tech, it shouldn’t be called a hoverboard because it doesn’t levitate. Lexus say they are making levitating ones possible soon, but we are yet to see that.

Some people call them “Self-balancing 2-wheel scooters” and that’s all I want for Christmas.

How it works is actually amazing. Each board contains the following

  • A wheel sensor
  • A gyroscope
  • A logic board and the
  • Battery pack

When you have the board on and you step on it, the wheel sensors will work with the gyroscope and the logic board to determine which direction you want to go from the pressure and angle of standing and act in such a manner to try and balance the centre of gravity thereby creating motion to whatever direction.

I have never been on top of one so I guess it needs some little practise to be very sure on how to do it. I think it sorts of clicks and you find yourself knowing what to do once you’re on top of one.

This technology has fascinated me throughout the year. Who wouldn’t want one of these seriously? The battery packs can do good speeds (some up to over 25 km/h) for long hours and you can charge the gadget once you are at your destination. Going to class or to work will never be the same! LOL.

There are some as cheap as $200 which is about Ksh. 20,000 and some as expensive as over $700. Yes I can’t yet afford one plus I’ll have to order it from overseas, wouldn’t I? Or is there any store in Kenya stocking hoverboards already?

I want one.

What do you want for Christmas?

If it is a phone you want for Christmas, then here are the best affordable phones to buy this Christmas

Read more on how a hoverboard works here.

4 Comments

  1. I have never been on top of one so I guess it needs some little practise to be very sure on how to do it

    Yeah pretty much. The weirdest part is learning how to NOT try to balance yourself, because, rather counterintuitively, trying to balance yourself on it is actually what will cause you to fall. You have to learn to let the board balance itself.

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