The hoverboard just jumped out of the realm of "Back To The Future Part II" and into reality. Really -- watch the video evidence.

A real, working hoverboard was created by an enterprising married couple, who co-founded a company called Arx Pax and put the (working, but still very prototypical) hoverboard up on Kickstarter for $10,000.
That's right, like "Back To The Future Part II" predicted, we live in an age where you can buy a real hoverboard -- if you have the cash, of course.

A Working Hoverboard, But...

There are a couple of caveats beyond the price tag, though.

First, this isn't science fiction or the now notorious "HUVr Tech" hoverboard hoax video, which garnered lots of hopeful attention, but turned out to be a prank put on by Christopher Lloyd (a.k.a. Doc Brown), pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, Moby and other celebrities, in collaboration with comedy site Funny or Die.

This is a real hoverboard -- named the Hendo Hoverboard, after its inventor Greg Henderson -- so it has to obey real physics.

The specifics are still vague, but the hover technology uses "Magnetic Field Architecture" (or MFA) based on Lenz's law to focus and strengthen electromagnetic fields to the point of load-bearing levitation.

That's why the board only currently hovers over floors covered in metals like copper.

Unfortunately, that means you won't be hoverboarding to work over concrete and asphalt anytime soon -- though on his Kickstarter page, Henderson imagines "one day" creating hoverboards that can "effortlessly float over any medium (even water!)."

Also, as (lucky) correspondents for GigaOm and The Verge, who recently got to take the board for a "hover," describe it, the device is pretty unwieldy to actually ride. And pushing the air like Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly won't do anything but put you off balance.

Finally, it currently makes a lot of noise -- and not of the cool, futuristic variety. It's been described as sounding like one of those old, fan-cooled desktop computers when processing a heavy load. Henderson is reportedly working on that.

A Technology With Multiple Applications

Those caveats makes sense, because the hoverboard is really more of a proof of concept for what Henderson and his co-founder and wife, Jill, actually want to do with their levitating technology.

(It also obviously made for an exceptional, attention-getting promotional tool for their Kickstarter).

Making things hover inches to feet above a surface can have a lot of applications, if it can be scaled beyond the half-pipe. The Hendersons imagine other applications for their MFA technology, like making buildings' foundations more earthquake-proof or creating better, cheaper maglev trains.

They also admit that they can't imagine all of the possible applications, so they've created a "Whitebox+" -- a simple battery powered, desktop hoverbox that can be operated with an iPhone or Android -- along with a Whitebox Developer Kit for tinkerers, in addition to the hoverboard.

(Photo : Kickstarter: Hendo Hover)

Hoverboard for Sale! Hoverboxes, Too

You can buy the Whitebox Developer Kit for a $300 or more, and the smartphone-controlled Whitebox+ for $900 or more. Those will be ready in time for the summer of 2015.

But for the $10,000 hoverboard that's for sale, you'll have to wait a year -- until Oct. 21, 2015 (other, lower levels of support get you a short trial of the board or various memorabilia).

Next on the sci-fi into reality list? Let's get working on holodecks. Oh yeah, that's already in the works, too.