Imagine riding a motorized skateboard that you control by moving your hands around. That’s the idea behind the Board of Awesomeness, also named Project Sk8, made by a company called Chaotic Moon Labs. They have taken a normal skateboard (the big kind) added an electric motor, Microsoft’s Kinect gaming sensor, and a Electronic Tablet running Windows 8, to create a product that it’s makers say most will have to try to see just how awesome it truly is.
Others seem to agree. Wired Magazine editors after spying demonstrators riding around on some demo models as this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vega, deem it one of the coolest gadgets at the show this year, and that’s saying a lot when you consider the show has several thousand vendors in attendance.
To ride the skateboard, the rider mounts the board, and gestures to let the software know that it’s time to roll. To move forward, all the rider has to do is gesture forward. Keeping their hands in that position causes the board to continue to speed up (up to 32 mph). Conversely, gesturing with backwards motions tells the board to slow down and eventually stop. The board comes with some pretty heavy duty tires as well to allow riders to travel over terrain that is usually off-limits to traditional skateboarders.
The point of the new board, says Geek Magazine, is to allow riders to have fun of course, but also to showcase what can be done when a variety of new technology is paired together to create something new and innovative. There are rumors afoot also, that the company is also planning to add voice recognition software to the system so that when the rider starts screaming in panic as the skateboard picks up speed, it will listen and heed.
To make learning to ride the board easier, the design team added three speed settings and allowed riders to use the touch-screen capabilities of the iPad to directly input instructions if they wish. Doing so frees the rider to concentrate on staying on the board while avoiding obstacles.
Riders at CES explained to curious onlookers that the only difference between riding the board and playing a game normally connected to an Xbox, is when you fall down, you actually get hurt, which should probably serve as a bit of a warning to anyone considering trying to get their hands on one of these new, uber cool skateboards.