July 25 - August 1, 2005

By Emily Flynn

Twice a day, a drone helicopter flies along the perimeter of the property, surveying the landscape with a pair of wireless camera "eyes." Robot security guards patrol the grounds. Visitors who show up at the enforced steel door at the center of the property must present a biometric passport and submit to an iris scan. Inside, computers and security personnel track the identities of visitors as they move from one room to the next. These aren't precautions at a supersecure government site, but the latest defenses available to the well-heeled homeowner. Security technology once the reserve of government agents is fast becoming a part of everyday civilian reality - for those who can afford it.

Safety for the minted is no longer just about cameras and bodyguards. Today, when the truly rich purchase a home, they spend up to 25 percent of the property value on security systems, estimates Kush Wadhwa, European director of the International Biometric Group. "The traditional means of home security - an alarm system and doorman - are being augmented with more high-technology security."

One big reason behind the demand for high-tech hypersecurity is that a lot of cool gear is fast becoming available. Advances in computers have made programming robots easy enough for nonexperts. Security systems can be switched to vacation mode with a touch of a button to automatically repeat the previous two weeks' lighting and curtain movements, simulating the presence of owners. Flying robot surveillance guards are as easy to use as home computers. "Behind the scenes it's incredibly complex, but on the surface it's so easy to use," says Paul Rose, director of U.K.-based security firm Icon Connect. Security products are also a lot more reliable than they were only a few years ago. And in an age of terrorism, private homeowners prefer to rely less on the state to protect them and more on gadgets they can control themselves.

The most luxurious new apartments are now being built with top-of-the-range high-tech security systems as a key selling point. At the Knightsbridge, a swanky London development opening this autumn, two $36 million penthouses are protected on all sides with infrared motion detectors. The front doors require the owners' body-temperature fingerprints to gain entry. If the infrared beams detect motion, live video footage of the spot in question is broadcast automatically to all the penthouses' screens as well as the building's private security desk. All mail will be privately scanned for traces of poisons and bomb materials.

Robot guards are also catching on. In Japan, Sohgo Security Services has a prototype robo cop called Alskok that uses infrared beams to spot intruders, then shoots them with a paint gun (so police can easily spot them). Tmsuk and Sanyo's Roborior guard dog, slated to hit the market in November, walks the premises and, if it detects unwarranted movement, sends live video feeds to its owner's mobile phone. Tokyo-based Secom has just started renting out Robot X for $2,700 a month (about half the cost of a human guard). At a meter tall and weighing 118 kilos, Robot X patrols on a set of six sturdy wheels. If it catches an intruder with its motion detectors, it sets off a dense cloud of smoke (nontoxic, but scary), shouts prerecorded warnings and can chase the intruder at 10 kilometers per hour via remote control.

Israeli company Steadicopter has just introduced a fully automatic unmanned helicopter—the first to be sold to civilians. The 2 meter-long, 15 kilo copter, which will be available for $150,000 by the end of the year, is being marketed to wealthy individuals, particularly in land-rich Australia. Steadicopter uses a software map and can be programmed to make its rounds along specific pathways, at specific heights and at certain times of day, and it transmits live camera footage to a base station.

Although these are high-end technologies, it's probably only a matter of time before their cost comes down to within the budget of the middle class. By then, of course, billionaires will have found other ways of locking their doors even tighter.