Alexandru Duru, a software engineer from Montreal, broke the world record for hoverboard distance a year ago. On a machine he developed, he covered 279.5 meters above the waters of Lake Ouareau, in Quebec. The flight lasted just over a minute and a half, and the intrepid inventor reached a height of 5 meters. Finally, it settled slowly and gracefully on the water surface. Now, he is working hard on a new prototype of his ingenuity.
Duru has spent five years working on this device, which he calls the Omni. His first model was little more than a wooden board tied to a propeller motor, but he has refined it and is now a carbon fiber structure powered by eight propellers powered by lithium polymer batteries.
How is it piloted? Duru controls altitude and speed with a remote control and fixes his feet to the board with snowboard holders.
This 31-year-old inventor of Romanian origin has created a company (Omni Hoverboards) to develop the new prototype, with the help of students from his city's university. His next flying hoverboard (which should be ready in 2017), he says, will be more polished and thin, develop more power, and be safer – the key factor in becoming a commercial vehicle.
If he succeeds, we will be closer to Marty McFly's flying scooter in Back to the Future.
