It was revealed at CES this year, and is being advertised as the integral part of a new kind of home security system designed by Sunflower Labs. According to the company, the state-of-the art and fully autonomous security drone is designed to patrol its owner’s property whenever it’s required. In addition, the drone is designed to support conventional security measures, such as car or house alarms, and can subsequently be deployed to provide live views of any suspicious activity. Thus, the system in question, if successful, could be a breakthrough development in domestic security.
The Sunflower Home Awareness System consists of the following key features:
The Bee: This is the security drone – it’s fully autonomous that deploys and flies independently, whilst also featuring cameras for live-stream video on board.
The Sunflowers: Looking like simple garden lights, these motion and vibration sensors can populate a given area to effectively detect cars, people, and even animals in the near vicinity.
The Hive: This is a charging station for the security drone; it also acts as the hub for all the data gathered by the other components of its system.
Are there doubts about the Security Drone?
It could certainly be argued to be a bit of a dystopian image and, moreover, some have doubted the necessity of security drones for monitoring homes and properties. Indeed, it is more than likely to be less complex to fit various security cameras, lasers, and sensors than it is to install this system properly. Yet there will be those who support the developer’s view that this drone is a natural evolution for home security. The fact that the ‘bee’ supposedly learns from its surroundings and improves its measures over time could mean it has the ability to continuously improve security protocols for years to come. Regardless of these opinions, it should be interesting to see if drones are a feasible option in the home security market, whether this is in the short-term, long-term, both, or neither.
The Sunflower Home Awareness System will start at $9,950, or around £7650, and is set to launch sometime in mid-2020.
