Ring launches robotics division with $249 flying indoor camera and $999 patrol robot

Ring opens a robotics division with two devices

Ring, the Amazon-owned home security company, has launched a new division called Ring Robotics and announced its first two products at an event in New York: the Drone Cam, a flying indoor camera for homes, and the Rover Cam, a rolling patrol robot for businesses. According to The Verge, the Drone Cam arrives in the US on January 27, 2027, priced at $249.99; TechCrunch reports the price as $270. The Rover Cam is available for preorder now at $999.99, with shipments expected to begin December 16.

A flying camera that patrols your home

The Drone Cam flies along preprogrammed routes inside a house, streaming and recording 2K video to the Ring app. According to The Verge, it can react to triggers from other Ring hardware, such as detected motion, a door opening, a water leak or an alarm, and fly to that spot to investigate. It can also run scheduled patrols or be sent out on demand, and Ring says it can climb stairs and use LED spotlights in the dark.

In its hands-on time, The Verge measured the device at 165 grams with a 148-degree field of view, which effectively becomes 360 degrees because the camera moves. It carries no sensors beyond those needed for landing, relying on AI in the cloud to fly, and manages five to eight minutes of flight per charge. Recharging is slow: eight minutes on the dock for every minute in the air. That makes it better suited to quick check-ins than continuous monitoring, even though Ring pitches it as a replacement for multiple stationary cameras.

Privacy is part of the design. The drone records only while airborne, its camera is physically covered while docked, and The Verge found it loud enough in flight that it could not quietly approach anyone.

The Rover Cam repurposes Amazon's Astro

The Rover Cam is built on the chassis of Amazon's Astro home robot from 2021, which Amazon later tried to sell as an enterprise security product. The Verge notes Amazon launched a $2,349.99 Astro for Business in 2023 and discontinued it roughly a year later, while TechCrunch reports the robot was scrapped seven months into its small-business security role.

The new robot keeps Astro's wheeled base and extending periscope camera, now upgraded to 4K and adjustable to different heights so it can see over counters and shelving during scheduled patrols. Astro's cupholder has been replaced by a tower with a built-in siren and flashing red light as deterrents, plus a blue ring of light projected onto the ceiling to help locate the robot in large spaces. It supports two-way talk, streams continuously to the Ring app, and can automatically record when it detects a person. The Verge estimates battery life at about 30 minutes, enough to cover roughly 5,000 square feet on a single floor; covering multiple levels requires more robots or pairing with the Drone Cam.

Shared AI, new encryption, and a long runway

Both devices run AI Pilot, a system Ring describes as combining specialized vision models, sensors and cloud processing to map a space and navigate autonomously. That cloud dependence is also the drone's main weakness: as The Verge points out, without Wi-Fi all it can do is land. Video is protected by TAKE, or Throw Away the Key Encryption, which The Verge says rotates keys every five minutes and deletes Ring's copies after 24 hours; TechCrunch notes it is unclear whether local storage will be offered. Both devices require a Ring Protect plan for video storage and advanced features and will integrate with Amazon's upcoming Alexa Home Map.

Ring founder Jamie Siminoff told The Verge the company has pursued a home drone since 2016, came close to shipping two earlier models, and started over about a year ago with a simpler design that offloads intelligence to the cloud. The original Always Home Cam, announced in 2020, never shipped. The Drone Cam is still completing FCC certification; Siminoff says it complies with the FCC's rules on foreign-made drones and is assembled in the US.

Why it matters

Ring is finally promising delivery of a product it has teased for six years, at a mainstream price and with a cloud-first architecture that treats AI as the pilot rather than onboard sensors. If it works, one drone could replace several cameras around a home; if the connection drops, it becomes a paperweight that lands. The Rover Cam is also Amazon's second attempt at an enterprise Astro, at less than half the previous price. Both products will inevitably revive the privacy arguments that have long surrounded Ring's cameras, now applied to machines that map and move through homes and workplaces.