Ring’s Indoor Home Security Drone Is Finally Here (We Think)

Ring Home Security has taken flight, and the brand’s tiny home security drone is surprisingly affordable. The $250 mini indoor drone camera was announced on Tuesday as part of the brand’s new arm, Ring Robotics. Ring Drone uses a learned map of your home to zoom around autonomously for up to 8 minutes at a time with custom routes to record places a couple of fixed cameras can’t. Ring has promised a flying indoor home security drone by January.David Watsky/CNET The small drone weighs just 5.8 ounces and houses a pair of 2K cameras mounted on the front and bottom, respectively. The cameras use bright LED lights to enable day or night monitoring, sending a live feed or recorded video to your device. The LEDs are also meant to ward off potential intruders peering in from the outside. LED lights allow the drone to monitor at night and could help deter break-ins, according to Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff.David Watsky/CNET You can program the flying cam to make regular flights, sending it on target missions to check on the dog or see if the stove was left on. The Ring Drone also syncs with other Ring cameras and sensors to automatically respond when windows and doors are opened at certain hours. The Best Indoor Security Cameras We've Tested If you’re thinking, “wait, didn’t Ring already launch a drone camera?” you’d be right — sort of. The brand “launched” the Ring Always Home Cam in 2020. The $250 indoor drone saw a limited invitation-only program but made it to public release. We’ve been assured this latest iteration is ready for primetime, though it’s still not available for preorder on Amazon. We saw Ring Drone in action The drone flew effortlessly from one room to another before circling back to dock and recharge. David Watsky/CNET Ring founder and CEO Jamie Siminoff demoed the drone, which has been in development for more than five years, in an event space set up to replicate a home. During the demo, the small drone lifted gently from the dock and rose to about eye level where it hovered as if to say “hello” to the group of journalists gathered around. Read more: When Flock Comes to Town: Everything You Should Know About This Tech Once airborne, the drone turned toward the adjacent room and whirred off to investigate. After a few seconds of scanning, the drone returned to the first room, docked and resumed charging. The drone weighs less than 6 ounces.David Watsky/CNET While in flight, the Ring Drone made a notably loud buzz reminiscent of a golf cart in reverse. Siminoff was quick to note that the sound was an intentional choice intended to deter potential intruders and alert home dwellers to the drone’s presence. The 1-minute flight was enough to cover two medium-sized rooms, though the drone can fly up to eight minutes on a full charge before needing about an hour to recharge. Ring reps told me it can monitor a home up to 3,500 square feet – more than enough for most – but Siminoff says they plan to improve the range over time. AI Pilot keeps it from flying into a china cabinet AI Pilot keeps the drone within a custom aerial perimeter.David Watsky/CNET If you’re worried about the drone knocking over vases and flying into ceiling fans like I was, Siminoff assured us the preprogrammed coverage zone is tight. The drone is powered by AI Pilot, “a custom-built system that uses the device’s cameras, specialized vision models, sensors and cloud processing to see, think, and navigate autonomously.” (We’ll see for ourselves once we get a unit in for testing.) To create your drone’s fly zone, you carry it through the space where it intelligently identifies rooms and suggests patrol points like doors, windows or a nursery. You can add rooms and areas based on your home’s layout and security preferences. The $250 Ring Drone Camera isn’t yet available for preorder, but Ring representatives at the launch event assured us it will be soon, and units are set to begin shipping in late January 2027. We’ll update this story when it becomes available for preorder or purchase.