The world hoped for a real working hoverboard this year, especially as we entered what Back To The Future deemed "the future." We saw a couple options that came with big drawbacks, but a privately owned space company called ArcaSpace is having a go with the $20,000 (£13,400) ArcaBoard.

So how does it work? Using 36 electric fans, the ArcaBoard gets 430 pounds of thrust, or 272 horsepower, to make it hover. These are combined with self-balancing technology to keep it steady and...that's about it. No means to maneuvre or steer, so not really something you could use to evade the grasps of local town bullies.

"I've always wanted to create a commercially available prodcut for the masses," the company boldly claimed on their website. "But the creation of this truly revolutionary product proves that Arca is not only able to create amazing technologies, but is actually engineering the future." 

The technical achievement is admirable, taking into account this is the third version of developing this technology. Getting 36 separate fans to work together is good, but in terms of an actual hoverboard, the search continues.