Amazon's Ring Unveils $250 Flying Drone and $1,000 Patrol Robot

Amazon's Ring on Tuesday unveiled a $250 flying indoor security drone and a $1,000 autonomous patrol robot for businesses, expanding its smart-home lineup. The Ring Drone Cam ships Jan. 27 pending FCC approval; the Ring Rover Cam ships Dec. 16.

The $250 Ring Drone Cam can fly from room to room, including upstairs, and capture footage day or night. When an alarm or sensor on windows, doors or other home security devices is triggered, the textbook-sized drone follows a preset path to investigate suspicious activity; users can also deploy it at any time. It flies up to eight minutes before autonomously returning to its charging dock, and its two plastic-encased propellers emit a loud buzz when airborne.

Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff said the drone could serve as a home monitoring tool and as a crime deterrent thanks to built-in LED lights. He said a homeowner who sees spotlights and something flying across a window after a motion alert is unlikely to enter the house.

The $1,000 Ring Rover Cam repurposes Amazon's Astro home robot, first unveiled in 2021, for offices, warehouses and other workspaces. It is a display mounted on a two-wheeled base with an extendable periscope camera, plus a built-in siren, two-way audio and a light tower that shines onto the ceiling to help users track its location.

Siminoff said people like indoor cameras but do not necessarily want them throughout the home, and that the drone and robot let users monitor multiple areas with one device.

Ring said privacy is the default mode for both devices, which flash an LED light when recording. The drone cannot fly outside, per Federal Aviation Administration regulations restricting drone operation beyond a pilot's line of sight. Siminoff said customers have been told not to fly it outside because it is illegal, and that guardrails prevent the drone from flying outside.

Ring first previewed the drone, then called the Always Home Cam, in 2020; Siminoff said he held off on releasing it until Amazon could perfect the design, sensors and data processing. Ring, which Amazon acquired in 2018, has faced privacy concerns over its police partnerships and earlier this year canceled an integration with police tech provider Flock Safety.

Ring devices give Amazon another avenue to grow in the smart home beyond Echo speakers and Eero routers, in a market Grand View Research estimates will top $200 billion in sales this year. Amazon shares were up 1.06% in delayed trading.

The Ring Drone Cam ships in the U.S. on Jan. 27, pending FCC approval, while the Ring Rover Cam begins shipping to users Dec. 16.