????去年秋天，小創(chuàng)業(yè)公司Arx Pax在Kickstarter上的一次眾籌活動幾乎引爆互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，其項目簡直好玩到逆天——它要開發(fā)一款像電影《回到未來》里那樣的，真正的懸浮滑板。更讓愛好者瘋狂的是，滑板界傳奇人物托尼?霍克用它在鍍銅U型場地上，表演了一段懸空半英寸的滑行視頻。就這樣，10塊懸浮滑板以1萬美元一塊的高價被很快搶購一空。

????不過對Arx Pax而言，懸浮滑板只是他們邁出的第一步。該公司首席執(zhí)行官格雷格?亨德森介紹稱，實現(xiàn)懸浮滑板的技術(shù)是一種全新的磁懸浮手段，Arx Pax將其稱作“磁場架構(gòu)”，它將給許多領(lǐng)域帶來革新。

????現(xiàn)有的磁懸浮系統(tǒng)需要同時在運行物體和軌道上安裝復(fù)雜的電磁波系統(tǒng)，每英里的成本可能高達(dá)數(shù)千萬美元，而Arx Pax的新系統(tǒng)很有可能要便宜一大截。

????盡管磁懸浮在運輸中安全、快速、高效的優(yōu)點得到了廣泛共識，但由于成本問題，政府和交通運輸部門在采用磁懸浮技術(shù)上進(jìn)展極為緩慢。在2012年的一份報告中，美國聯(lián)邦運輸管理局發(fā)現(xiàn)，高昂的成本是美國采用磁懸浮技術(shù)的主要障礙，他們用了“嚇人”一詞來形容這項花費。

????但Arx Pax的磁力引擎完全被安置在懸浮物體中，所需的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施只是一塊能導(dǎo)電的平面，比如在懸浮滑板演示視頻中使用的鍍銅U型場地。這意味著人們能夠以低廉的成本迅速架設(shè)各種規(guī)格的懸浮系統(tǒng)。更令人佩服的是，這種平面還可以做多種用途。比如說，在鍍銅表面鋪上一層瀝青，這種道路就能同時支持磁懸浮汽車和傳統(tǒng)汽車。

????Arx Pax開發(fā)的系統(tǒng)還自帶引擎，可以利用磁力產(chǎn)生推力，并控制方向，所以它并不需要鋪設(shè)特定軌道。該公司開發(fā)了一款叫做Manta Ray的微縮版懸浮汽車，它能靈巧地以“之”字形轉(zhuǎn)彎，就像遙控汽車一樣。亨德森認(rèn)為，它可以發(fā)展成“一種新型的汽車，采用混合動力，既可以按照常規(guī)方式行駛，也可以懸浮行駛，兼具汽車的靈活和火車的高效?！?/p>

????然而，讓懸浮汽車上路這一充滿未來感的夢想仍面臨不少障礙。Arx Pax的“懸浮引擎”非常耗電，每舉起一公斤的物體都需要40瓦的功率。老牌磁懸浮開發(fā)公司Magnemotion的前任工程副總裁詹姆斯?韋勒表示：“每公斤耗費40瓦功率，這在交通運輸領(lǐng)域是致命的缺陷。”相比之下，Magnemotion試驗的M3磁懸浮系統(tǒng)舉起超過1萬磅的重量僅需100瓦功率。

????而且，Arx Pax系統(tǒng)只能從裝載電池中獲取能量。韋勒說：“電池質(zhì)量的確正變得越來越好，不過可能還需要做出海量改進(jìn)”才能實現(xiàn)亨德森愿景中的那類混合動力磁懸浮汽車。Hendo懸浮滑板也只能維持7分鐘的滑行時間。

????但Arx Pax這項技術(shù)最大的競爭優(yōu)勢或許在于其可擴(kuò)展性和靈活性。盡管公司正在自行生產(chǎn)Hendo懸浮滑板，但他們接下來打算授權(quán)其他公司使用這項技術(shù)。

????亨德森表示：“我們的目標(biāo)是——將這項技術(shù)交給那些能為我們不了解的問題想出全新解決方案的人?！盇rx Pax通過在Kickstarter上的眾籌，售出了約700套名為The White Box的開發(fā)工具。亨德森提到，正開發(fā)的一個解決方案是：可用于清潔房間的懸浮推車，它能解決傳統(tǒng)推車上輪子和活動部件都是污染源的問題。

????亨德森表示，已經(jīng)有許多大公司有意收購Arx Pax，不過他們還是決定自己保留公司控制權(quán)?！拔覀儾幌氡粩[在某公司的貨架上，被收購或被控制，更不想讓這項技術(shù)受到任何人為的限制?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W(wǎng)）

????譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

????審校：任文科

????Last fall, small startup Arx Pax nearly broke the internet with a Kickstarter campaign that many thought was too good to be true—it was building a real-life hoverboard, straight out of Back to the Future. The ten Hendo boards being offered (for $10,000 each) sold out swiftly, in part thanks to a video of skate legend Tony Hawk zipping across a copper-plated halfpipe, a half-inch off the ground.

????But the hoverboard is just a first step for Arx Pax. According to CEO Greg Henderson, the technology that makes the hoverboard possible—a new kind of magnetic levitation that Arx Pax labels Magnetic Field Architecture—has wide-ranging, transformative implications.

????Arx Pax’s system is potentially much less expensive than existing maglev systems, which rely on complex electromagnetic systems in both vehicle and tracks and can cost tens of millions of dollars per mile.

????Despite its widely acknowledged advantages in safety, speed, and efficiency in transit applications, governments and transit authorities have been extremely slow to adopt maglev due to cost. In a 2012 report, the Federal Transit Administration found that these costs, which it characterized as “intimidating,” were a major barrier to maglev adoption in the U.S.

????But Arx Pax’s magnetic engine is entirely contained within the object being levitated, and the only required infrastructure is a conductive surface, such as the copper-lined halfpipe used to demo the hoverboard. This means systems of any scale could be laid quickly and cheaply. Even more impressive, the surface can be multi-use—for instance, a roadway consisting of a layer of asphalt over copper could accommodate both maglev and conventional vehicles.

????The Arx Pax engine can also generate thrust and directional control magnetically, so it doesn’t need a track for guidance. One of Arx Pax’s prototypes is a scaled-down hover vehicle called the Manta Ray, which zigs and zags as neatly as a remote control car. According to Henderson, this points towards “a new type of vehicle, a hybrid vehicle that can drive conventionally, or can hover . . . [with] all the freedom of a car and all the efficiency of a train.”

????But this futuristic dream of roads full of flying cars faces some obstacles. Arx Pax’s hover engine is power-hungry, needing 40 watts of energy to levitate one kilogram. According to James Weiler, former VP of engineering for longtime maglev developer Magnemotion, “40 watts per kilogram is a killer in terms of transportation.” By contrast, the M3 maglev system that Magnemotion piloted was able to levitate over 10,000 pounds with a hundred watts.

????And all of the Arx Pax’s energy has to come from on-board batteries. “Batteries are getting better,” says Weiler, “But you probably need an order of magnitude improvement” for the kind of hybrid levitating car Henderson envisions. The Hendo hoverboard offers a ride time of only 7 minutes.

????The scalability and flexibility of Arx Pax’s technology may be its greatest competitive advantage. Though the company is building the Hendo hoverboard itself, its plan going forward is to primarily license its technology.

????“Our goal,” says Henderson, “is to put this technology in the hands of folks to come up with new solutions to problems we don’t even know about.” Arx Pax sold about 700 of its developer kits, The White Box, through its Kickstarter campaign. One such solution that Henderson mentions is hovering carts for clean room applications, where wheels and their moving parts are sources of contamination.

????Henderson says that Arx Pax has already entertained buyouts from larger companies, but chooses to remain in control. “We didn’t want to end up on someone’s shelf, bought up or stifled, [with] this technology limited in some way.”