> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://creativestrategies.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Ring Gets Into Robotics - URL: https://creativestrategies.com/research/ring-gets-into-robotics/ - Published: 2026-11-10T22:56:03.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-10T22:56:03.000Z - Author: Carolina Milanesi Ring showed its first two robots to press in New York on November 9, ahead of the public announcement on November 10\. The Ring Rover Cam is built for small and medium businesses, and the Ring Drone Cam is built for the home. Getting into robotics makes a lot of sense for Ring. The company already has doorbells, cameras, alarms and sensors in millions of homes, and a device that can move to where a sensor was triggered covers the spots fixed cameras miss. Rover brings mobile security within reach of a broad base of small and medium businesses, and the Drone Cam gives homeowners with larger, multi-floor homes a precise way to check on every corner while they are away. **Astro Becomes Rover** I reviewed Amazon Astro when it first came out, so Rover looked familiar the moment it rolled onto the floor. Amazon put a great deal of robotics engineering into Astro, from the drive system and navigation to the periscope camera that rises out of the body. When Ring looked at form factors for a business robot, it took Astro apart and concluded the mechanical design was still one of the best available for a roving robot. Ring says Rover grew out of feedback from Astro owners, who said roving security was the feature they valued most, so Ring kept the hardware and rebuilt the software around patrols, alerts and response. I was glad Ring was open about how Rover originated, walking through what it kept from Astro and what it changed. That transparency builds trust with buyers, and it shows Amazon's investment in Astro being put to practical use. Positioning Rover for business security brought several design changes. The screen is smaller and the googly eyes are gone. Where Astro had a drink tray, Rover now has a siren and a light tower. The tower projects a blue or red circle onto the ceiling so you can always find Rover in your building, a feature Ring added after its own team kept losing track of test units around the office. The periscope mast extends to almost four feet and can be set to a different height at each stop to see over counters and shelving. Rover streams and records in up to 4K whenever it is moving or patrolling, and two-way audio lets someone monitoring remotely speak to whoever the robot finds. Ring quoted about 30 minutes of patrol per charge, with charging time roughly equal to time out. At $999.99, shipping December 16 and available for preorder now, Rover makes security robotics affordable for businesses that would never consider an enterprise system. I can see Ring building on this platform to develop a full portfolio at different price points and capabilities, from a small retail store up to a larger warehouse. **The Drone Cam** On the home front, Ring announced the Drone Cam. Ring first showed an indoor drone in 2020 as the Always Home Cam, pitched as a way to see multiple parts of the home without buying a camera for each room, and revealed it publicly again at CES 2023\. At the event, Ring explained why it never shipped. Each time the team solved an edge case with more compute and more sensors, the drone needed a bigger battery, became heavier and flew less well. The version announced this week moves the intelligence to the cloud, weighs 165 grams and lands on its own if it loses connection. The Drone Cam is for people who have a large, multi-floor home, do not want a camera in every room, and still want to monitor the house when they are away. For them, it is ideal. It flies routes mapped during setup, runs scheduled patrols, and can launch automatically when a Ring alarm sensor or camera detects something. It records in 2K with a 148° field of view and can rotate 360°, so a single stop covers a whole room. Its lights and sound also work as a deterrent, since someone looking around a house at night is unlikely to stay after seeing a spotlight move past the window. Some people will say they would never have a drone in their home for privacy reasons. I would counter that the user is fully in control. The owner decides where the drone can fly and when it flies, and the only time it launches on its own is in response to an alarm or sensor the owner has chosen to connect to it. Between flights, the drone powers down in its dock with its camera off. Ring went through several iterations to land on a product targeted at indoor use only, with a typical flight of about a minute. On average, that is how long it takes to check your home and find an issue, whether that is a window left open, a bathtub overflowing or an intruder. A full charge covers about eight minutes of flight, enough for a few checks. The Drone Cam costs $249.99 and ships January 27, 2027\. Scheduled routes on both devices require a compatible Ring Protect plan. **Privacy and Shipping** At the launch, Ring described privacy as the foundation of its business and pointed to being first in home security to make two-factor authentication the default and to offer end-to-end encryption. Both robots carry that approach forward. Each has an LED that shows when it is recording, Rover has a Sleep Mode that retracts the periscope and turns off the microphone with one tap, and video from both is protected by Ring's TAKE encryption. Ring has announced drone products before without shipping them, and some will read that history as a weakness. In my book, knowing when a product is not ready counts in Ring's favor, especially for a device that flies inside people's homes. Given the excitement and determination Jamie Siminoff, Ring's founder and chief inventor, showed at the launch, I take him at his word that this one will ship. The Drone Cam already has a page on amazon.com where you can sign up for updates, pending FCC approval, and the Rover Cam is available for preorder today.