A newer version of the Gradio SDK is available: 6.20.0
title: Hoverboard Calculator
emoji: ⚡
colorFrom: blue
colorTo: indigo
sdk: gradio
sdk_version: 5.34.2
app_file: app.py
pinned: false
license: mit
tags:
- build-small-hackathon
- track:backyard
- achievement:offbrand
- achievement:fieldnotes
- achievement:sharing
- gradio
Hoverboard Calculator
Because Michael J. Fox Lied To Me (But It's Cool)
Design your own acoustic frictionless surface. Not levitation — friction cancellation. The distinction matters: it requires orders of magnitude less force.
How It Works
Tile a surface with equilateral triangles. Place a 40kHz ultrasonic transducer at each vertex. Three speakers converge on each triangle's centroid = one acoustic pressure node. Stack enough nodes and a skateboard glides like it's on ice.
The default 6'x6' design: ~2,300 triangles, ~1,200 transducers, ~2,300 pressure nodes. $1,510 in parts.
What You Get
- Full triangular grid calculation
- Bill of materials with real component costs
- Weight capacity analysis (what can ride on it)
- AI assessment of your design
- The knowledge that hoverboards are $1,510 away from existing
The Physics
- Operating frequency: 40kHz (ultrasonic — inaudible)
- Wavelength: ~8.5mm
- Coherent addition: N triads = N² force (quadratic scaling)
- Published research confirms ~3g force per 40kHz node
- Friction cancellation needs far less force than levitation
If This Ever Makes Money
First check goes to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. He lied to us about 2015 but he's fighting the real fight.
References
- Marzo et al. "Three-dimensional mid-air acoustic manipulation" (2014)
- Hirayama et al. "A volumetric display for visual, tactile and audio presentation" Nature (2019)
- Open Source Ultrasonic Phased Array — Hackaday.io
"It's not a hoverboard. It's an acoustic air hockey table. And the grid is triangles, not holes."
Part of The Treehouse — Build Small Hackathon 2026.
Free dev tools at Hometree: code analysis, AI agent monitoring, token-saving agreement scoring.
Heuremen LLC — Builder: Wayfinder6