Amazon's new Ring Robotics line pairs a $250 indoor drone, pending FCC approval, with a wheeled business security robot shipping December 16, renewing questions about home privacy.
Amazon has announced two mobile security cameras under a new Ring Robotics line: the Ring Drone Cam, a small indoor drone, and the Ring Rover Cam, a wheeled robot aimed at businesses. According to Amazon's November 10 announcement as reported by Ars Technica, both rely on an "AI Pilot" system that uses the devices' cameras, vision models, on-board sensors and cloud processing to map a floor plan, suggest patrol points near doors, windows or a cash register, and steer around furniture. The Verge's Jen Tuohy got hands-on time with the drone, and the embedded video from The Verge shows her look at the device and its dock.
The Ring Drone Cam starts at $250, records 2K video with a 148-degree field of view and 360-degree rotation, and has two LED lights for low-light scenes. Amazon says flights last up to eight minutes on a new, fully charged battery before the drone returns to its charging dock, where The Verge reports its camera is shuttered; the company also says it can fly up stairs. The drone still needs authorization from the US Federal Communications Commission, and Amazon is aiming for availability on January 27, 2027. Amazon warns performance may suffer around reflective floors, blank walls, glass and mirrors. The device effectively succeeds the Ring Always Home Cam, which was offered only briefly by invitation in 2021 and never reached general sale.
The $1,000 Ring Rover Cam is already on preorder and is due to ship on December 16, 2026. Built on Amazon's Astro home robot, according to The Verge, it streams and records up to 4K video, uses a telescoping mast to see over counters and shelves, covers up to 5,000 square feet on a single floor, and carries a siren, light tower and two-way audio; it cannot climb stairs. Amazon promises LED and on-screen indicators when recording and says footage will use Ring's "Throw Away the Key" encryption, which the Electronic Frontier Foundation has called an improvement but short of end-to-end encryption. Ring's track record, including a 2023 Federal Trade Commission case over staff access to customer videos, means the roaming cameras are likely to face close privacy scrutiny.
