Home Cam
Always Home Cam is an autonomous indoor security camera that rests on a base and operates like a drone to fly around the house and give the user a look at any room y want when they are not at home. After the camera is done flying, it gets back to its dock to charge its battery. It will retail at $249.99 when it’s launched in 2021.
Always Home Cam is a fully autonomous camera, but users can request what path it takes and where it goes. After buying the camera, you create a map of your home, which becomes the direction for which the camera can take. The map’s purpose is to allow the user to ask the camera for specific viewpoints such as the lounge or the kitchen. Always Home Cam can be programmed to fly whenever there is a disturbance detected by an alarm kinked to it or command to fly on demand by the owner.
One limitation of Always Home Cam is that it only records when in flight. When it docked on its battery, the camera is blocked and cannot record.
I would compare Ring’s Always Home Cam to Ring Indoor Cam by the same company. The latter is a plug-in indoor camera that allows the user to see, speak, and hear from people and pets from the comfort of their phone or tablet. The two are similar because they enable the owner to record and review videos. The two indoor cameras also allow the user to create default settings on how they behave when triggered by an alarm. The Ring Indoor Cam does not fly like Always Home Cam, and the owner can only see multiple viewpoints by connecting several of them.
b).
The announcement of Always Home Cam has been met with mixed reactions. A section of people who believe it is a timely invention, while others think it uses raises too many privacy concerns. The section of people that support the launch of this indoor camera holds that its ability to fly around the house will do an excellent job of ensuring that people can monitor their homes or other establishments and receive alerts whenever there is an intrusion. It is challenging to mount cameras on every corner of the house, and therefore, it isn’t easy to monitor every point of the house. Always Home Cam allows the owner to move it around the house and check for certain things such as an open window or a pet’s position. The people with reservations about the device believe that it invades people’s privacy by recording their indoor activities at will. My conclusion is that it is an incredible innovation with many benefits. The privacy concerns are covered because the camera only records when in flight and makes a sound that alerts anyone nearby that it is recording: it only records when triggered as programmed.
Sources
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-new-ring-always-home-camera-is-a-security-disaster-in-the-making/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/always-home-cam-amazons-robot-drone-flying-inside-our-homes-seems-like-a-bad-idea/
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/psst-amazon-wants-to-put-a-flying-security-camera-in-your-home-heres-what-to-know/
C).
Always Home Cam will be launched in 2021, and if it delivers as promised, many people will potentially buy it and have it their home. Most people buying it will use it in their family to monitor alerts and get real-time surveillance if there is an unauthorized entry.
I would expect people to use Always Home Cam for different functions at their home in the real world. When one is away, sometimes it isn’t easy to know whether you locked a window or left your tap running, and other installed cameras cannot see these parts of your house. Users will be using the flying camera to check for such things. Others might want to know what the kids are doing in the house when left alone or find out if the main door was locked correctly. Generally, Always Home Cam will be used in dwellings for surveillance at the owner’s command and triggered by a connected alarm.
Always Home Cam has several limitations. One of its limitations is that, as the cam preprogrammed to fly over different house viewpoints, it would be difficult to pass over other rooms if the doors are locked, and the predetermined map cannot be accessed. As it is expected, most people leave their rooms locked. I guess at the point the camera will be useless.
Always is vulnerable to hackers because it exists on one’s network. It has the potential of being hacked and allowing burglars to gain access to the house and scout its layout. The data can then be used to rob the house. Potentially, recorded private data can be leaked and used for malicious gains.