A cleaning apparatus includes a combing unit including a series of spaced protrusions or teeth extending into a cleaning roller for preventing build up and removing debris (such as hair, string, and the like). The protrusions extend along a substantial portion of the cleaning roller and extend partially into the cleaning roller to intercept the debris as it passes around the roller. The protrusions have angled leading edges that are not aligned with a rotation center of the cleaning roller and are directed into or against a direction of rotation of the cleaning roller. The combing unit and protrusions have a shape and configuration designed to facilitate debris removal from the cleaning roller with minimal impact on the operation of the cleaning apparatus. The cleaning apparatus may include a surface cleaning head of an upright vacuum cleaner or sweeper or a robotic vacuum cleaner.

A cleaning accessory for a vacuum cleaner comprises a housing. A rotatable cleaning brush is rotatably mounted to the housing. The rotatable cleaning brush has at least one flexible cleaning element projecting outwards from a side of the housing. The at least one flexible cleaning element is configured to rotate and engage with a surface to be cleaned. A dirt deflector projects from the side of the housing and is configured to surround at least part of the perimeter of the rotatable cleaning brush.

A surface cleaning head with a leading roller may be used to facilitate capturing of debris in the air flow into a suction conduit on the underside of the surface cleaning head. The leading roller is generally positioned adjacent to and in advance of the opening of the suction conduit. The surface cleaning head may have dual agitators—a leading roller and a rotating brush roll—with the leading roller being located in front of the brush roll. The leading roller may have a smaller diameter than the brush roll and may provide a softer cleaning element. The leading roller may also have a bottom portion exposed to the flow path to the suction conduit and at least a top half that is not exposed to that flow path. The leading roller may also float relative to the surface cleaning head and/or may be adjustable relative to the brush roll.

A vacuum cleaner includes a foreign-substance suction unit having a drum brush to suck foreign substances by the suction power rotating on a floor to be cleaned. The drum brush includes a rotary body having a cylindrical drum and foreign-substance collecting grooves formed at opposite end portions of the drum along a circumferential direction; a cleaning member disposed on a circumferential surface of the drum; at least one nozzle spirally extended across the cleaning member along a lengthwise direction of the drum to guide foreign substances toward the foreign-substance collecting groove; and a foreign-substance winding portion disposed in a portion of the foreign-substance collecting groove to wind the guided foreign substances. The drum brush may effectively guide, wind, and cut a hair and the like foreign substances on a carpet and the like bottom, thereby effectively preventing the hair and the like foreign substances from being piled up.

An autonomous coverage robot detection system includes an emitter configured to emit a directed beam, a detector configured to detect the directed beam and a controller configured to direct the robot in response to a signal detected by the detector. In some examples, the detection system detects a stasis condition of the robot. In some examples, the detection system detects a wall and can follow the wall in response to the detected signal.

A method of controlling a mobile robot includes a learning initial operation of acquiring images for respective points, generating descriptors that respectively correspond to a plurality of feature points extracted from the images, and generating nodes that correspond to the images acquired at the respective points, a label generation operation of generating a label descriptor based on the plurality of descriptors, a localization initial operation of acquiring a localization image when a jumping case occurs, and generating respective localization descriptors corresponding to a plurality of localization feature points extracted from the localization image, a comparison target selection operation of matching the label descriptor to each of the localization descriptors and selecting one or more comparison target nodes corresponding to the matched label descriptor, and a last node selection operation of selecting a node estimated as the current position among the one or more comparison target node.

An autonomous cleaning robot includes a drive configured to move the robot across a floor surface, a brush proximate a lateral side of the robot, and a motor configured to rotate the brush about an axis of rotation. The brush includes a hub configured to engage the motor of the robot and arms each extending outwardly from the hub away from the axis of rotation and each being angled relative to a plane normal to the axis of rotation of the brush. Each of the arms include a first portion extending outwardly from the hub away from the axis of rotation and a second portion extending outwardly from the first portion away from the axis of rotation. An angle between the first portion of each of the arms and the plane is larger than an angle between the second portion of the each of the arms and the plane.

A cleaning machine may include: a first brush comprising a first brush shaft extending in a left-right direction and a first brush body held by the first brush shaft; a second brush comprising a second brush shaft extending in the left-right direction and a second brush body held on the second brush shaft; a brush supporting member supporting each of the first brush and the second brush such that the first brush and the second brush are rotatable; a body supporting the brush supporting member such that the brush supporting member is pivotable; and a pivot mechanism configured to pivot the brush supporting member with respect to the body. At least the first brush may move with respect to the body in an up-down direction when the brush supporting member pivots with respect to the body.

Disclosed is a cleaner. A cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a brush; and a removal member that is positioned adjacent to the brush. The brush is rotated to collect garbage, such as hair, located on a floor surface. The collected garbage, such as hair, may be pushed by the removal member and separated from the brush. The garbage, such as hair, separated from the brush may pass through a nozzle housing and may then be collected in a dust bin. Therefore, the garbage, such as hair, attached to the brush can be easily separated and collected without a separate removal process. Accordingly, user convenience can be improved.

A cleaning accessory for a vacuum cleaner comprises a housing. At least one rotatable cleaning brush is rotatably mounted to the housing and configured to engage a surface to be cleaned. The at least one rotatable cleaning brush comprises at least one flexible cleaning element projecting outwards from a side of the housing. The at least one flexible cleaning element is arranged to rotate in a cleaning position and rotate in a disengaged position whereby the at last one flexible cleaning element engages the surface to be cleaned when rotating in the cleaning position and the at last one flexible cleaning element is remote from the surface to be cleaned when rotating in the disengaged position.