An agitator including an elongated main body configured to rotate about a pivot axis, one or more soft cleaning features coupled to and extending over a substantial portion of a surface of the elongated main body, the one or more soft cleaning features defining at least one channel, and at least one deformable flap disposed at least partially within the at least one channel and extending from the elongated main body. The deformable flap may extend beyond an outer surface of the soft cleaning features. The channel may have a generally U shape and/or V shape. The channel may be configured to allow the resiliently deformable flap to move front to back as the agitator rotates about the pivot axis.

A vacuum cleaner system includes a position sensor that acquires a positional relationship between the vacuum cleaner and an object around the vacuum cleaner, a map acquisition unit that acquires a floor map indicating the predetermined floor, a self-position estimation unit that estimates a self-position on the floor map based on the position sensor, the self-position being a position of the vacuum cleaner, a boundary information generation unit that acquires, based on the self-position, boundary information indicating a boundary of a cleaning area which is an area where the vacuum cleaner performs cleaning on the floor, a boundary instruction unit that instructs the boundary information generation unit on the boundary, a cleaning area creation unit that creates a cleaning area based on the boundary information, and a running route creation unit that creates a running route for cleaning based on the created cleaning area.

A vacuum cleaner (1) comprising a container (2), a suction unit (60), an air channeling unit (25), operative between the container (2) and the suction unit (60), wherein the air channeling unit (25) comprises: a collector (26) having a suction mouth (27) at an intake side of the air channeling unit (25), a deflector (28) positioned at the intake side and radially extending at least over a central portion of the suction mouth (27), the collector (26) and the deflector (28) delimiting a suction channel (29) connecting the suction mouth (27) to an inlet port (22) of the suction unit (60).

A vacuum cleaner main body includes a main body case, a camera provided in the main body case and that can perform imaging at a given angle of view, a driving wheel that allows the main body case to travel, and a controller. The controller includes at least a traveling mode and an imaging mode. In the traveling mode, the controller controls the drive of the driving wheel to allow the main body case to travel autonomously. In the imaging mode, the controller controls the main body case to autonomously travel to a given imaging position so that the camera sequentially images still images in a plurality of adjacent directions at an angle equal to or smaller than the angle of view. The vacuum cleaner main body can securely image, with the camera, a wide range without any blind spots.

An electric vacuum cleaner apparatus includes: a station, an electric vacuum cleaner attachable to the station, and plural attaching detectors which can detect the electric vacuum cleaner is attached in the station. The electric vacuum cleaner includes a cleaner body; a tubular part connected to the cleaner body and sucks in dust; and a primary dust container that stores dust sucked in with the tubular part. The station includes a secondary dust container that stores dust discharged from the primary dust container. The electric vacuum cleaner apparatus permits transfer of dust from the primary dust container to the secondary dust container when at least two of the plural attaching detectors have detected the attaching of the electric vacuum cleaner to the station. The electric vacuum cleaner apparatus can reliably confirm the vacuum cleaner is placed at a correct position on the charging station so that dust to be discarded from the primary dust container to the secondary dust container does not leak around the electric vacuum cleaner apparatus.

A vacuum cleaner includes a suction nozzle defining a nozzle inlet, a manual nozzle height adjustment assembly for adjusting the height of the nozzle inlet relative to a surface to be cleaned, and a bleed valve fluidly connected to a working air path of the vacuum cleaner to selectively open to reduce suction at the nozzle inlet. The bleed valve is incorporated with the nozzle height adjustment assembly such that movement of the nozzle height adjustment assembly between different height settings will automatically open or close the bleed valve.

Disclosed is a vacuum cleaner having an improved structure for preventing hair or foreign substances from being caught in a wheel. The vacuum cleaner includes a suction nozzle having a suction passage for cleaning a surface to be cleaned by a suction force and a wheel assembly accommodated in the suction nozzle and configured to be rotatable. The wheel assembly includes a wheel and a rotating shaft to rotatably support the wheel. The rotating shaft is inclined relative to a bottom surface of the suction nozzle.

A control apparatus of a robot cleaner includes a user interface unit to receive a user command controlling the robot cleaner; a controller to generate a control signal to receive a map of a cleaning area, based on the user command; and a communicator to receive the map of the cleaning area from an external server or the robot cleaner, based on the control signal. An embodiment may download or generate a map of a cleaning area and to allow a map editing to be performed by a user. An embodiment may set and edit a cleaning schedule. When setting the cleaning schedule, an embodiment may recommend a cleaning schedule based on cleaning history data. An embodiment may automatically determine whether the environment is changed or whether the cleaning is available, while the robot cleaner performs the cleaning, and it may be possible to actively deal with this.

An automatically movable cleaning device, in particular an electric-motor-driven vacuuming and/or wiping robot, comprising a distance-measuring device for measuring the distance of the cleaning device from an object, wherein the distance-measuring device has an optical triangulation system, which has a light source, an optical filter, and a detector, which are arranged in such a way that light in a propagation direction, emitted by the light source, is first scattered by the object, wherein at least a portion of the scattered light is then spectrally filtered by means of the optical filter and wherein the filtered light is finally detected by the detector. For advantageous development, the optical filter according to the invention is a band-stop filter having a reflectivity of at least 90% with respect to at least one wavelength of the scattered light, and/or the optical filter is a band-pass filter, a reflector being arranged after the band-pass filter in the transmission direction, and/or the optical filter is a cut-off filter having a reflectivity of at least 90% with respect to at least one wavelength of the scattered light.

A suction head for a vacuum cleaner or the like is described, said suction head comprising: a base plate with a base plate channel open towards a surface to be vacuumed, a suction channel in fluid communication with the base plate channel, main wheels for moving said suction head on the surface to be vacuumed, and a bracket for connecting said main wheels to said base plate, wherein said bracket is connected to said base plate in a rotatable manner so that said base plate is tiltable with respect to the main wheels.