Ring unveiled a concept device at the tail end of 2020, promising that it would eventually be available in homes. The Always Home Cam is a small drone that can fly around your house while you’re not there to look for intruders. The company gave us a first real-world look at the hardware in flight at CES 2023, but it has yet to announce a release date or price.

The whole thing looks more like a smart bread bin, kitchen countertop appliance, or something similar than a security drone. Although it does not look or sound like any other drone on the market, it is slightly larger than what it appears to be in Ring’s initial demo videos. If you’ve ever agitated a pet with a toy mini drone, you can anticipate a similar agitation whenever this device is on patrol.

When it finally made its debut, the Ring team did explain how this would work, such as the fact that it will cover one floor in your home, ideally the ground floor. It will be trained by walking around your house in flightpaths while holding it without blocking the camera. You can set multiple paths and individual waypoints, so you won’t have to wait long if you want to check the back door or if you left the stove on.

You can also set the camera to pause in midair and rotate around to observe the surrounding area if you spot something wrong. At least until we see the drone in the real world, there won’t be a separate app for controlling it; everything will be integrated into Ring’s existing app. Sadly, Ring is not yet prepared to share its thoughts on the subject; however, the fact that it is prepared to demonstrate prototypes indicates that it is more likely to sell than not.