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Ring says its indoor Drone Cam will go on sale in the U.S. on Jan. 27, 2027, for $249.99. A hands-on demo showed the 165-gram device taking off, hovering and following a short planned route, but its obstacle avoidance, stair flight and performance in real homes were not demonstrated.
Ring says its indoor Drone Cam, a small AI-powered camera that flies through a home, will arrive in the U.S. on Jan. 27, 2027, for $249.99. At a New York launch event this week, The Verge saw the 165-gram device take off, hover and follow a preprogrammed route, though several advertised capabilities were not tested in the demonstration.
The drone is designed to respond to Ring sensor triggers, including motion, a door opening, a water leak or an alarm. It can then fly along a route set in the Ring app and livestream or record from a chosen location. Ring also says owners can schedule patrols or send it out on demand. Its camera records at 2K resolution with a 148-degree field of view; movement lets it look around a full 360 degrees.
In the demonstration described by The Verge, the drone completed a roughly one-minute flight, taking off from its dock, hovering and following a route through a simple living-room layout. The reporter also saw it take off and land several times and described its movement as smooth, with little wobble. The drone is substantially smaller than the model shown at CES in 2023, according to the report.
Ring claims a battery provides five to eight minutes of flight, with about eight minutes of charging needed for each minute in the air. A five-minute flight would therefore require roughly 40 minutes of charging. The company says the camera is covered when the drone is docked and that it records only while flying. Ring also says video is protected by its TAKE encryption system, which rotates keys every five minutes and deletes Ring’s copies after 24 hours while allowing cloud processing for features such as alerts and video search.
A Mobile Camera With Short Flights
The Drone Cam offers a different approach to home monitoring: rather than placing cameras in several rooms, Ring says one device can travel to a location after a sensor alert. If it works reliably, that could let residents check a room or incident without installing a stationary camera in every space. The launch price is $249.99, but the product’s practical value depends on how well it navigates homes and responds to alerts outside a staged demonstration.
Its claimed flight time and charging ratio point to brief check-ins, not continuous aerial monitoring. The drone’s dependence on an internet connection is another consideration for a security device: according to Ring, without Wi-Fi it can only land. That could limit its usefulness during a connectivity outage, even if its sensors detect an event.
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A New Version After Years of Work
The product follows Ring’s 2020 announcement of the Always Home Cam, an earlier flying-camera concept. The Verge reports that Ring founder Jamie Siminoff said the company had worked on the drone since 2016 and came close to shipping two earlier designs. About a year ago, the company started over with a simpler aircraft and shifted much of its navigation processing to the cloud.
Ring calls the navigation system AI Pilot. The company says it combines the camera, vision models, sensors and cloud processing to map a home and guide the drone around obstacles while following routes programmed in the Ring app. Siminoff described the system as “like an AI agent that’s controlling the robot.” The company is introducing the Drone Cam as part of a Ring Robotics line, alongside the Ring Rover Cam, a separate business-focused robot priced at $999.99.
““Truly, it’s like an AI agent that’s controlling the robot.””
— Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, as quoted by The Verge
The launch demonstration did not establish how the drone handles obstacles, unexpected movement or pets in a lived-in home. The Verge also reports that Ring said it can fly up stairs and use LED spotlights in darkness, but those functions were not shown. It remains unclear how reliably the drone will follow routes across different floor plans or what happens if conditions change after a route is programmed.
The device’s reliance on cloud processing and Wi-Fi raises questions about how it behaves during outages beyond Ring’s statement that it can land without a connection. The privacy protections described by Ring, including its recording limits and encryption, are company claims; their operation and limits were not independently established in the hands-on test. The report also does not establish whether the Drone Cam can replace multiple stationary cameras in ordinary use.
U.S. Shipping Set for January
Ring says the Drone Cam is scheduled to ship in the U.S. on Jan. 27, 2027, for $249.99. The next meaningful test will be whether retail units meet that schedule and how the drone performs in real homes, especially around obstacles, stairs, pets and inconsistent internet connections. Ring has not provided enough information here to settle those performance questions.
Key Questions
When will Ring’s Drone Cam be available?
Ring says it will ship in the United States on Jan. 27, 2027.How much will the Drone Cam cost?
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff announced a price of $249.99.How long can it fly on one charge?
Ring claims a flight time of five to eight minutes. The company says each minute of flight takes about eight minutes of charging.Can the drone fly around obstacles or up stairs?
Ring says AI Pilot can guide it around obstacles on preprogrammed routes and that it can fly up stairs. The hands-on demonstration did not test those functions.What happens if the home loses Wi-Fi?
According to the report, Ring said the drone depends on an internet connection and can only land when Wi-Fi is unavailable.Source: theverge.com
