Sunflower Labs, a startup company created by an exec who used to work for Evernote, is leading the way in drone based personal security. The first example of how these drones operate can be found in a house in San Carlos, California. This prototype home is owned by the Alex Pachikov, the CEO of Sunflower Labs, and it uses a number of vibration and motion sensors in conjunction with the drones to monitor all the activity that goes on around the house. The system is so accurate that it can measure exactly how many steps have been taken right outside the front door.

The developers of the system believe that many different levels can be used to protect a home. They do not need to rely entirely on what can be seen because vibrations and motion are easier to detect in some cases. The sensors are about 1.5 feet tall and are disguised to look like garden lights. The motion sensors are accurate enough to detect the movement from pets, cars and humans.

Vibration sensors are used to detect nearby footsteps, the rumble from cars and it can even tell you if you’ve put the blender on inside the kitchen. These sensors are called Sunflowers and they are placed all over the home in a way that allows them to create a map of the people and the objects in the space. The Sunflowers have proven to be successful, but the pride and joy of Sunflower Labs’ system is their drone. They call it the Bee and it launches from a station that aptly they’ve named the Hive.

The drone flies autonomously. It is able to leave the Hive on its own, and then flies around the home taking footage of the property along a path that has been designed by the sensors to help it avoid obstacles. If you want the drone to land then you just press a button on the mobile app and it returns to the Hive. The funnel-shaped landing zone also serves as a wireless charger.

Some would say that such as system is too elaborate for home security. Pachikov disagrees. He believes that this is new type of criminal deterrent is more attractive to users than the standard system which sounds a loud alarm to signal a breach. The standard alarm system is often problematic in that it is prone to false alarms can can be quite noisy. The drone is a better solution because it is similar to a security guard going to check out any anomalies. The Bee is about as loud as other commercial drones but they are working on making it more silent.

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