Last year, Ring announced at futuristic (slightly dystopian?) take on in-home security with its Always Home Cam, a drone equipped with sensors and a camera that can navigate the interior of your home along custom paths laid out by a user, in response to triggers including Ring Alarm sensors, or a manual command from the Ring app itself. Now, the concept becomes a reality as it starts shipping out to users in the United States — though it’s an invite-only launch at first.

Ring revealed the $249 Always Home Cam just over a year ago, and it said at the time it would ship in 2021, which it now is. The small drone only measures around 5″ by 7″ by 7″, which should make it more nimble when navigating your halls. The idea behind the device was to provide a way to essentially have a camera everywhere inside your home when you’re away, without requiring that you actually buy a whole bunch of individual cameras and put them in every corner.

Ring stresses that the Always Home Cam will only take flight when it’s directed to do so by a user, either via pre-set trigger or manually. It also doesn’t activate its cameras or record at all by default when it’s at rest in its base, which the company says is an intentional decision choice aimed at increasing “privacy and security.”

If you’re inclined to get in on the ground floor of the next generation of aerial domestic surveillance, you can go ahead and request an invite from Ring starting today to get on the list.

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