A floating magnetic chair inspired by Star Wars

File this one under “Got to see this in person!”. An inventor from West Sussex named Keith Dixon is set to launch a new armchair that floats on magnets called the “Lounger.” Inspired by items found in Star Wars, the Lounger floats on a series of magnets at heights up to 14 inches high. A pair of connecting rods prevents the seat from slipping off to the side yet allows vertical movement.

According to this article over at the Times Online, Mr. Dixon took approximately four years to design and develop the Lounger at the cost of tens of thousands of pounds. The chair will go on sale on March 14th for £5,875 with 2000 units being manufactured by his company called Hoverit.

The chair itself has a base and a see-through acrylic seat and was inspired by the Landspeeder vehicles from the Star Wars films. The chair uses three non-electric magnets which are powerful enough to support a person of 19 stones (which is 266 lbs).

The Lounger may cause some problems along the way though. First, folks with heart pacemakers should NOT sit on the Lounger. The magnets on the chair may discolor the picture of a television set within a range of 4 to 5 feet and you probably will want to keep your credit cards away from the chair since the magnets may accidentally wipe your cards.