Buying a home drone or robot: twelve things to check.

Around people

1. Guards a finger cannot pass. A thin ring round each propeller is not enough if it bends under a poke or leaves the blades open from above. Ask whether the guards keep out a standard test finger and take a firm push: guards a finger cannot pass.
2. Distance from people. How close does it come, and does it slow down when someone is in the room? Ask what it does when a person walks into its path.
3. A stop you can always reach. A button, a remote or a ring you wear, not only an app on a phone that may be in another room. And what happens when it loses its link or its battery runs low: it should land on its own.
4. What happens on contact. The motors should stop if it touches anything.
5. Children, pets and curtains. Pets may chase it and children will reach for it. Propellers also pull light fabric in, so ask how it keeps clear of curtains and tulle.

In your rooms

6. Indoor limits you set. Can you mark rooms it must not enter, such as a bedroom, and does it stop at a balcony door? A drone that goes outside falls under outdoor rules: home drones and the law.
7. Glass and mirrors. Cameras and light sensors can miss glass doors and see a second room in a mirror. Ask how it senses them: why glass and mirrors confuse robots.
8. Noise. Small propellers are loud. Ask for a sound level at a stated distance, and think about where you will be when it flies: how loud is a drone at home?

With your data

9. Where the camera’s images go. Processed on a base station at home, or sent to a cloud? Can you see a live view only when you ask? What to ask about a robot’s camera, and your data rights.
10. How long updates come. A connected robot needs security updates for years. From December 2027, the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act requires makers of connected products to handle security updates for a stated support period; ask for it now.

On paper

11. The battery. Can you replace it yourself? From February 2027, EU rules require most portable batteries to be removable and replaceable by the user. Ask how it charges, and where it should sit while it does.
12. The EU marks. Look for CE marking. Radio products that connect to the internet have had to meet EU cybersecurity requirements since 1 August 2025.

How we answer them

Alkyon, our concept for a flying home companion, is designed to answer all twelve: guards with grilles a test finger cannot pass, at least 1 m from people, two presses on your Lychnos Ring to stop it, motors that stop on contact, landing on its own when the battery or link fails, rooms you mark as off limits, margins from curtains, camera images processed on its dock at home, and a battery pack you can swap by hand. It is a concept in development, for Europe only, and not yet CE marked. More: an autonomous indoor drone and the rules in its design.

Sources, read 4 November 2026: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945, Article 2 (EU text as adopted); the EU rules on radio equipment cybersecurity, connected products (Cyber Resilience Act) and batteries, as summarised on our law page. General information, not legal advice.