An autonomous cleaning robot includes a drive system to move the autonomous cleaning robot about a floor surface, a cleaning head on a bottom portion of the autonomous cleaning robot, a side brush on the bottom portion of the autonomous cleaning robot, and a vacuum system in pneumatic communication with the opening. The cleaning head is configured to direct debris from the floor surface into the autonomous cleaning robot as the autonomous cleaning robot moves about the floor surface. The side brush is rotatable about a rotational axis forming a non-zero angle with a floor surface, and the side brush comprising an opening.

A suction device and a suction force adjustment method thereof are provided. An optical detection unit is disposed on a suction path of a suction pipe to detect an object flowing through the suction pipe. Physical features of the object are determined according to a sensing result of the optical detection unit. A suction force of a suction unit is regulated based on the physical features of the object.

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.

A brushroll for a surface cleaning apparatus includes a brush dowel defining a central rotational axis which extends longitudinally through the brush dowel. The brush dowel includes bristle supports, sweeper supports, and a shroud surface extending between the bristle supports and the sweeper supports. A plurality of bristles protrude from the bristle supports.

A docking station for a mobile cleaning robot can include a housing. The housing can define or comprise a pad receptacle and a pad dispenser. The pad receptacle can be configured to receive a soiled pad from a pad tray of the mobile cleaning robot. The pad dispenser can be configured to provide a fresh pad to the pad tray of the mobile cleaning robot.

Provided is a cleaner having improved cleaning efficiency. The cleaner includes a main body having a intake provided to suction an object to be cleaned and a suction device having a brush chamber that communicates with the intake and a brush accommodated in the brush chamber, wherein the brush includes a brush body rotatably coupled to the brush chamber, a blade protruding in a radial direction of the brush body, and prevention members formed to be inclined from a central portion of the brush body to opposite side ends of the brush body to prevent foreign substance introduced into the brush chamber from being wound around the blade.

An autonomous cleaning device (1), such as a robotic vacuum (1), has an optical sensor (50) that includes: a rotary body (51) configured to rotate relative to a main body (2) about a rotational axis (CX); a light-emitting device (61) provided on the rotary body; a light-receiving device (62) provided on the rotary body; a cover (52) disposed upward of the rotary body; and legs (70) disposed around the rotary body and supporting the cover. In a cross section orthogonal to the rotational axis, at least a portion of a surface of each of the legs is inclined with respect to a virtual radial line (RL) extending in the radial direction of the rotational axis.

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.

Provided is a robot cleaner using an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm and/or a machine learning algorithm in a 5G environment connected for Internet of Things (IoT). The robot cleaner includes one or more sensors, a driving wheel, a suction blower, and a controller, and the controller defines a cleaning target area, identifies a user's location and a type of the user's behavior, collects life pattern information of the user including the user's location, the type of the user's behavior, and timestamps each associated therewith during the time period of one day or more, determines a cleaning schedule of the robot cleaner based on the collected life pattern information, and controls the driving wheel and the suction blower so as to perform cleaning in accordance with the determined cleaning schedule.

A cleaner is disclosed, which comprises a main body including an suction inlet through which air containing dust enters, a dust separator provided to separate dust from the air while the air entering from the suction inlet is moving, a first dust collector configured to collect the dust separated by the dust separator, a cyclone portion configured to rotate the air to separate the dust from the air, and a second dust collector collecting the dust separated by the cyclone portion. The dust separator is provided with a plurality of plate shaped members arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to a moving direction of the air, and arranged to be spaced apart from one another to move the air.