This disclosure describes various methods and apparatus for detecting and characterizing debris pickup during a cleaning operation. A debris detection sensor is described capable of counting the number of particles retrieved by a robotic vacuum during the cleaning operation and associating particles identified with particular areas. The location information can be obtained using various sensors on-board the robotic vacuum. In some embodiments, a cleaning operation can be rerouted when senor readings from the debris detection sensor deviate from historical sensor readings by a predetermined amount.

A system consists of a vehicle in the form of an independently moving vehicle in the form of a cleaning robot, and a door with a doorframe and a door leaf. The vehicle has a detector for detecting object data within the environment. In order to be able to open a door without the cleaning robot manually acting on the door, the door has an electronic actuator for changing an open state of the door, and the vehicle has or is allocated a controller, which is set up to output a control command for activating the actuator depending on an operating state and/or position of the vehicle.

A work system comprising a first autonomous work machine and a second autonomous work machine, wherein the first autonomous work machine includes: a detection unit configured to detect dirt on the second autonomous work machine; and a notification unit configured to, if the detection unit detects dirt, notify the second autonomous work machine of dirt information indicating the detection of the dirt, and the second autonomous work machine removes the dirt or waits in a predetermined position in response to the notification of the dirt information by the notification unit.

Disclosed is a cleaner. The cleaner according to an embodiment includes a main body, a suction device configured to suck dust outside the cleaner, a dust detection sensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element disposed adjacent to the suction device, a dust container configured to store sucked dust through the suction device, and a processor configured to identify a dust inflow state and a dust amount of the dust container based on a voltage value output from the light receiving element, and control an operation of the cleaner based on the identified dust inflow state and dust amount, wherein the light emitting element and the light receiving element are disposed at an outside of the dust container in a direction toward an inlet of the dust container.

A surface treatment apparatus may include a surface cleaning head having an agitator, an agitator motor configured to cause the agitator to rotate, a suction motor configured to cause debris to be drawn from a surface to be treated, a debris sensor configured to generate a signal indicative of an amount of debris in a dirty air path, a user interface (UI), and a controller. The controller can be configured to receive the signal indicative of the amount of the debris in the dirty air path, adjust a rotation speed of at least one of the suction motor or the agitator motor, and adjust the UI based on the rotation speed of at least one of the suction motor or the agitator motor.

A vacuum cleaner that includes a suction source configured to generate a suction airflow, a dirt collector in fluid communication with the suction source and configured to separate debris from the suction airflow and the dirt collector is configured to store the debris separated from the suction airflow. The vacuum further includes an infrared sensor operable to output a signal corresponding to a distance to an amount of debris stored in the dirt collector, a controller that receives the signal, and the controller is operable to determine a fill level stored in the dirt collector based on the signal. A visual display displays the fill level stored in the dirt collector.

Provided is a cleaning system including: a robot cleaner including a dust collecting device having a dirt outlet and an outlet door configured to open and close the dirt outlet; and a station including a collecting device configured to generate a suction force to suction dirt of the duct collecting device and a lever device provided with a lever configured to be fixable to the outlet door as the outlet door is being opened to allow the collecting device and the dust collecting device to communicate with each other, and a lever driving source configured to generate power for driving the lever.

A dirtiness level determining method applied to an electronic device comprising an image sensor. The method comprises: (a) capturing a first image at a first time point according to first type of light; (b) capturing a second image at a second time point after the first time point according to the first type of light; (c) calculating a first fixed pattern according to a first difference between the first image and the second image; and (d) calculating a first dirtiness level of the image sensor according to the first fixed pattern; (e) generating a first notifying message if the first dirtiness level is higher than a dirtiness threshold.

Disclosed herein is an intelligent robot cleaner. The intelligent robot cleaner primarily senses foreign matter sucked through a suction unit under the control of a control unit, and secondarily senses an article collected in a collection unit, if articles other than the foreign matter are sensed, thus allowing a use to recognize accurate information about the article collected in the collection unit and preventing valuables or small articles from being lost. The intelligent robot device may be associated with an artificial intelligence module, a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, devices related to 5G services, and the like.

A bag-based filtering device for collecting debris from a cleaning robot via a debris evacuation station includes a filter bag configured to separate at least the portion of the evacuated debris from a flow of air generated by the evacuation station. The filtering device includes a conduit extending inward from an opening of the filter bag into the receptacle. The conduit is configured to pneumatically connect a receptacle of the filtering device with an inlet of the filtering device to direct the flow of air generated by the evacuation station through the filter bag to separate at least the portion of the evacuated debris from the flow of air.