 For nearly three decades, it's been among the most iconic pieces of technology, signaling to the world that we are now, without a shred of doubt, living in the future. The question is, has that future actually arrived? I'm Josh Lowenson with The Verge, and I'm about to ride a hoverboard. So at a very high level, walk me through how this technology works. So you know a magnet has an electromagnetic field, right? And it basically is equal in all areas. It has a north and a south pole. What if you were able to take that magnet and organize the magnetic field so that it was only on one side? And then you combine that with other magnetic fields in a way that amplifies and focuses their strength. That's magnetic field architecture. That becomes a primary magnetic field. Then you have a method of induction, and you create a secondary magnetic field in the substrate. Henderson's technology is something we've all kind of assumed existed already. He's basically using high-powered magnets to lift heavy things off a metal surface. In a nondescript commercial space about an hour outside of San Francisco, Henderson has assembled a small team, built a metal playground, and hovers things, including a hoverboard. Do you want to try? Do you want to go for it? Go for it. All right. You might want to stand on it just to feel it out for you. All right. You kind of feel like you have it, and then it gets away from you a little bit. It's kind of weird to have it vibrate. Riding the hoverboard is smooth but pretty uncontrollable. You kind of push off and just keep going in one direction. It's not like a snowboard or a skateboard where you can lean in any one direction and have it go the way you want. Future versions will actually help you control and steer where you're going. They're already working on a version of that that's about the size of a Roomba. The magnetic field architecture can be very small or very big. Our end goal is to be able to levitate really large objects, buildings, out of harm's way, or to reconfigure really large objects. We haven't hit any walls yet, and it's just really exciting to see how far we can take this technology. Right now they're launching on Kickstarter with a total goal of $250,000. They're hoping to appeal to the maker community with developer kits as well as offering an actual hoverboard, which will cost $10,000. The future may be here, but it's louder, harder to control, and way more dependent on a metal surface than we originally dreamed of. That's the future of magnets.
 For nearly three decades, it's been among the most iconic pieces of technology, signaling
 to the world that we are now, without a shred of doubt, living in the future.
 The question is, has that future actually arrived?
 I'm Josh Lowenson with The Verge, and I'm about to ride a hoverboard.
 So at a very high level, walk me through how this technology works.
 So you know a magnet has an electromagnetic field, right?
 And it basically is equal in all areas.
 It has a north and a south pole.
 What if you were able to take that magnet and organize the magnetic field so that it
 was only on one side?
 And then you combine that with other magnetic fields in a way that amplifies and focuses
 their strength.
 That's magnetic field architecture.
 That becomes a primary magnetic field.
 Then you have a method of induction, and you create a secondary magnetic field in the substrate.
 Henderson's technology is something we've all kind of assumed existed already.
 He's basically using high-powered magnets to lift heavy things off a metal surface.
 In a nondescript commercial space about an hour outside of San Francisco, Henderson has
 assembled a small team, built a metal playground, and hovers things, including a hoverboard.
 Do you want to try?
 Do you want to go for it?
 Go for it.
 All right.
 You might want to stand on it just to feel it out for you.
 All right.
 You kind of feel like you have it, and then it gets away from you a little bit.
 It's kind of weird to have it vibrate.
 Riding the hoverboard is smooth but pretty uncontrollable.
 You kind of push off and just keep going in one direction.
 It's not like a snowboard or a skateboard where you can lean in any one direction and
 have it go the way you want.
 Future versions will actually help you control and steer where you're going.
 They're already working on a version of that that's about the size of a Roomba.
 The magnetic field architecture can be very small or very big.
 Our end goal is to be able to levitate really large objects, buildings, out of harm's way,
 or to reconfigure really large objects.
 We haven't hit any walls yet, and it's just really exciting to see how far we can take
 this technology.
 Right now they're launching on Kickstarter with a total goal of $250,000.
 They're hoping to appeal to the maker community with developer kits as well as offering an
 actual hoverboard, which will cost $10,000.
 The future may be here, but it's louder, harder to control, and way more dependent
 on a metal surface than we originally dreamed of.
 That's the future of magnets.