IN THIS ISSUE Flying High: Hoverboard Inventor Develops Dreams (Duration 15:02) In May 2015, Montreal inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru was recognized as having broken the world
record for the longest hoverboard flight. He flew up to five metres above a lake for more than 275 metres
aboard his homemade propeller-powered personal flying device. Now, Duru and his company Omni
Hoverboards are working on the next generation — one we all may be able to fly someday soon.
News in Review Study Modules The Flight of the Silver Dart (Apr 2009)
Century of Flight: Wings Over Canada (Feb 2004)
Related CBC Programs Dragons' Den, Season 9, Episodes 3 & 8
Dragons' Den, Season 10, Episode 9
Gone Sideways: Serendipity in Science
Project X: Flight
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News in Review – November 2016 – Teacher Resource Guide FLYING HIGH: Hoverboard Inventor Develops Dreams VIDEO REVIEW Before Viewing 1. Have you ever dreamed that you could fly? Describe what you envisioned?
2. How many fictional and mythological characters can you name who can fly? List their names.
3. Why do you think that the desire to fly is such a powerful part of the human imagination?
Viewing 1. A Montreal inventor, Alexandru Duru, set a Guinness World Record by travelling over _____ metres
at a height of up to _____ metres on a hoverboard of his own design.
2. What did Alexandre Duru design for use on the Metropolitan Opera House in New York?
3. Name one movie character that used a hoverboard.
4. What would you use to accelerate Duru’s hoverboard? Use references from the video to support your
answer.
5. How many horsepower do the lithium polymer batteries generate in the hoverboard?
6. What new invention is Duru working on in addition to the hoverboard?
7. What is going to replace the pliers on the new hoverboard prototype?
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1 NOVEMBER 2016 – FLYING HIGH: HOVERBOARD INVENTOR DEVELOPS DREAMS
After Viewing 1. If you had the money, would you invest in Duru’s hoverboard business? Why or why not?
2. If you had the money, would you buy one of Duru’s hoverboards? Why or why not?
3. Do you think hoverboards will be commonly used in another 10 years? Why or why not?
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2 NOVEMBER 2016 – FLYING HIGH: HOVERBOARD INVENTOR DEVELOPS DREAMS
THE STORY Does the idea of a
hoverboard appeal to you?
The idea of levitating above
ground while balancing on a
small board that speeds
through the air has captured
the imaginations of people
for a long time.
Many hoverboard prototypes
have already been built but
most of them can only be used
on special conductive surfaces
using superconductors and
magnets. The most promising of the prototypes that
can actually float in the air without a special surface
is the Omni Hoverboard, built by Canadian
inventor Alexandru Duru. He broke the Guinness
World Record for the longest distance travelled by
a hoverboard in May 2015 when his invention flew
a distance of 275 metres at a height of 4.87 metres
in the air in just over a minute and a half. After his
record breaking flight, Duru said, “Riding it is a
feeling that no other machine can provide, nothing
comes close.”
Duru is a software engineer and has devoted five
years to the hoverboard design. He says that he has
always dreamed of developing a personal flying
machine. The Omni Hoverboard has eight
propellers and a frame made from carbon fibre. The
motors controlling the propellers are powered by
12 lithium polymer batteries which generate around
40 horsepower. To accelerate the hoverboard, you
squeeze a joystick made from a pair of pliers that
makes the board go higher or lower and speed up or
down. You are strapped onto the machine by
snowboard binding straps and steer by physically
turning your body in the air to change its direction.
Duru and a team of university students are
currently working on a new version that promises
to be more powerful, sleeker and safer. He is
hoping for it to be ready for sale by 2017.
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Research the term “horsepower.” Where did the term originate and what does it really measure? Duru is in a race not just to be the first commercial
hoverboard on the market, but to be the best one for
eager consumers. On April 30, 2016, French jet ski
icon Franky Zapata set a new Guinness World
Record for the furthest hoverboard flight at 2.25
kilometres. His jet-powered flying hoverboard is
branded the Flyboard Air. The Flyboard Air is
powered by jet engine propulsion and features a
joystick wired to a base that controls the direction,
height and speed of the machine. Zapata claims that
the board can reach heights of up to three
kilometres and hit a top speed of 95 mph. It seems
that Duru and his team have competition to deal
with but that may only serve to inspire them to
make their product better.
Sources:
Favreau, A. (April 27, 2016). Finally, A Hoverboard that
Actually Flies. Popular Science.
Russon, M. (October 16, 2015). Omni Hoverboard:
Canadian inventor refining his Guinness Record-breaking
flying propeller device. International Business Times.
3 NOVEMBER 2016 – FLYING HIGH: HOVERBOARD INVENTOR DEVELOPS DREAMS
To Consider 1. How does the Omni Hoverboard work?
2. What sort of competition does Canadian inventor Alexandru Duru face in his quest to create the best
hovercraft ever?
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4 NOVEMBER 2016 – FLYING HIGH: HOVERBOARD INVENTOR DEVELOPS DREAMS
ENGINEERING DESIGN Engineering design is the art of making something new or making an existing thing better. It involves a
series of interactive steps used to create functional products and processes.
What steps do you think an engineer or inventor takes to create an innovative product?
Warm up 1. Consider a pen. How many ways can you imagine a “better” pen? Sketch your better pen prototype.
2. Join a group of four (4) and share the prototype pen sketches you created individually. Consider the
various features of your individual prototypes. Drawing on the ideas from your individual sketches,
collaborate to create an even better pen. Sketch this new collaborative prototype.
3. Consider the engineering design process visual below. What do you think some next steps would be
to make your prototype pen a viable reality?
Imagine Ask THE GOAL
Improve Plan Create Source: Engineering is Elementary, Museum of Science, Boston: eie.org/overview/engineering-design-process
Task: Practicing Engineering Design Think about a product or structure that could be significantly improved. Perhaps it is something you use
in your everyday life. Perhaps your improvements would make the lives of children, differently abled
people, animals and/or plants better.
Step 1:
Brainstorm your ideas on your own first and then with a group. Ask questions to each other about the
products you are trying to make better. Help each other improve your design ideas.
Step 2:
Compare your design to real products that are considered very innovative. A web search for “top
innovative products” or “most innovative products” will get you to such sites.
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5 NOVEMBER 2016 – FLYING HIGH: HOVERBOARD INVENTOR DEVELOPS DREAMS
Step 3:
Choose one site featuring innovative products to analyze. Which of these products do you feel would
actually benefit society in a meaningful way? Which of these products would you purchase and why?
How does your design ideas compare with these? Did you get any further ideas from viewing these
examples?
Step 4:
Pitch the product you created in Step 1 to your classmates. You may want to use a Dragon’s Den format
for your presentations.
– OR –
Try This! Create an ad using iMotion HD, iMovie, Magisto Video Editor or other movie making apps.
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6 NOVEMBER 2016 – FLYING HIGH: HOVERBOARD INVENTOR DEVELOPS DREAMS
WHAT IS A PATENT? Inventors such as Canadian Alexandru Duru would be sure to secure
a patent on their invention as a way of protecting their investment of
time and money. A patent is a license to create, control and distribute
an invention or creation. Patents can be a product (like a hoverboard),
a composition (a chemical composition used to fuel the hoverboard); a machine (for making
hoverboards); a process (a method for mass producing hoverboards) or an improvement to any of these.
According to patent law, to be eligible for patent protection, an invention must be

New – the first of its kind in the world

Useful – functional and operative

Inventive – showing ingenuity that is not obvious to someone of average skill who works in the
field of your invention
Getting a patent isn’t cheap. The legal fees needed to
obtain a patent ranges between $4 000 to $6 000. Special
patent lawyers must first conduct research to see if you are
actually eligible for a patent by searching every patent ever
secured for something similar to your invention.
Interestingly, sixteen per cent of patents expire because inventors refuse to pay a $50‐250 yearly maintenance fee. Despite the costs involved, patents are lucrative business even before a product is mass produced. The
average patent is worth over half a million dollars according to recent patent sales in the U.S. (most of
these patents involved cell phone technology). Still some patents are sold for much less and others go
obsolete after a few years.
What is a patent troll? According to Investopedia “a patent troll is a derogatory term used to describe people or companies that misuse patents as a business strategy. A patent troll obtains the patents being sold at auctions by bankrupt companies attempting to liquidate their assets, or by doing just enough research to prove they had the idea first. They can then launch lawsuits against infringing companies, or simply hold the patent without planning to practise the idea in an attempt to keep other companies’ productivity at a standstill.” Task Watch this short video produced by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to learn the
basics on the patent process: youtube.com/watch?v=OFVoJhp3RN4
After watching the video, answer the following questions.
1. What is a patent and why would you want one?
2. Why might you want to sell your patent or licence it?
3. How might a patent be used to attract funding from investors?
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7 NOVEMBER 2016 – FLYING HIGH: HOVERBOARD INVENTOR DEVELOPS DREAMS
4. Research some patents. Google has a patent search function. Check it out by going to Google patent
search engine and search “pen”. You will see numerous patents, the date the patent was issued, as
well as drawings and descriptions of inventions that were proposed to improve the pen.
5. Search a few other select products on Google patent search that you are interested in. Be prepared to
share two to three interesting facts about the product you selected with a classmate.
6. Look at these four “strange” patents below. Try to identify what they might be:
Find out the answers in Inc. Magazine’s article, “12 Strange and Amazing Patents”: inc.com/ss/12-strange-and-amazing-patents
Reflection Toyota announced in 2015 that it would give away thousands of
patents for its fuel-cell cars in an effort to encourage other companies
to join in building this new industry. Why is this act considered
extremely generous by some and economically foolish by others?
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