Wow, it’s been almost exactly a year since Amazon announced their Ring Always Home Cam. It’s a small Wi-Fi security camera that hooks up a quadcopter drone and walks around your house like an adorable hunter-killer robot. Terminator. Well, it’s finally ready for prime time (Prime time?), At least if you’re lucky enough to be asked to use it.

The Always Home camera can exit its charging station and fly around a predefined path when a Ring Alarm contact sensor or motion detector is triggered. The system is only active when you are away. You will receive a notification on your phone, then you can watch 1080p video as the flying drone follows its path, using on-board sensors to avoid collisions. It is not recommended for outdoor use.

While you can pause or rotate the flight path, you cannot take manual control like conventional consumer drones. You can configure up to 50 different pre-programmed flight paths, but individual Always Home cameras can only patrol along a single story. If you want a robot camera protector on the top or the bottom, you will have to buy a second one.

Manual control wouldn’t make much sense, as the drone can only stay aloft for five minutes at a time before having to return to its dock. As far as I know, Amazon has ignored my requests to equip the Always Home camera with a small laser cannon and flamethrower, so it’s strictly for surveillance purposes. That’s probably a good thing: Amazon recommends that users “introduce Always Home Cam to your pets while you’re around so they can familiarize themselves with its noise and flight sequence.” I’m waiting for a bunch of Ring videos of cats delivering flying drone tackles from the top of kitchen cabinets.

The Ring Always Home Cam costs $ 250, which isn’t bad all in all. U.S. Amazon customers can request an invite now, with initial units shipping later this year.