A Hovercraft You Can Wear

For those with a maker mindset, the most unlikely circumstances can trigger a great idea. Take Jake Carlini, for instance. He was recently playing a game of air hockey and wondered what it would feel like to be the puck. That set his mind in motion, and ultimately led him to the idea of building a wearable hovercraft so that he could experience the world from the vantage point of a puck.

Being a hockey puck isn’t something most people aspire to, so the blueprint for such a project wasn’t exactly worked out. Carlini had to design this hovercraft suit entirely from scratch, without the benefit of the shared knowledge of others. But at their core, hovercraft work on fairly simple principles, so he sketched out a basic design, then iterated on it until it worked as hoped.

The build began by cutting a piece of plywood to serve as the base. This was secured to a vest, such that the entire hovercraft could be worn like a shirt. Next, two holes were cut into the wood to allow air to be pushed underneath it. Then a tarp was wrapped around the wood and lots of small holes were poked in it. This allows enough air to escape for a cushion of air to form for the hovercraft to ride on, mimicking the physics of an air hockey puck on a table.

To push air underneath the vehicle, a pair of leaf blowers were chosen. These are worn on the back, and dryer vent tubing directs air from their outlets to the holes in the base. Since the on-switches cannot be reached on the back, they were modified by adding long wires that extend their triggers to where they can be reached by the wearer’s hands.

Things were looking good in theory, but the suit couldn’t handle Carlini’s weight in real-world testing. To squeeze some more power out of the leaf blowers, he taped down the “turbo” buttons. This did give enough lift, but with his legs dangling behind the hovercraft, the skirt was having trouble staying inflated. There was also no way to control the vehicle, so forward motion was impossible.

To fix up these issues, Carlini strapped the guts of electric skateboards to each of his legs. That took some of the load off of the unsupported rear of the hovercraft, and also made it possible to propel the vehicle forward.

This build took quite a lot of work, but in the end it was all worth it. Carlini now knows exactly what an air hockey puck feels like — that is, if an air hockey puck could feel anything at all. Be sure to check out the video below so that you can see this hovercraft suit in action.