A surface cleaning apparatus has a rotatably mounted brush. The brush has a plurality of bristles which have a bristle radial length, a forward rotational side and a rearward rotational side in a direction of rotation of the brush. A trailing hair blocking member is provided adjacent the rearward rotational side of the bristles, the trailing hair blocking member having a trailing hair blocking radial length, wherein in a plane transverse to the axis of rotation, the trailing hair blocking radial length of the trailing hair blocking member is proximate the bristle length, whereby the trailing hair blocking member interacts with the floor during rotation of the brush.

This invention concerns a cleaner head for a vacuum cleaning appliance, the cleaner head comprising a main body supporting an agitator. The agitator comprises a rotatable cylindrical body bearing an elongate agitator formation for engaging a floor surface as the cylindrical body rotates. The elongate agitator formation includes a first agitator row extending around the cylindrical body from a respective first edge (L) of the cylindrical body towards its centre (C) in a first helical direction and a second agitator row extending around the cylindrical body from a respective second edge (R) of the cylindrical body towards its centre (C) in a second helical direction counter to the first helical direction, wherein the agitator rows meet to define an apex, the apex being positioned closer to the first edge (L) than the second edge (R) or being positioned closer to the second edge (R) than the first edge (L).

A surface cleaning apparatus includes a housing including a base adapted for movement across a surface to be cleaned, a fluid delivery system, and a recovery system. The surface cleaning apparatus can be configured to clean multiple surfaces, including hard and soft surfaces, and for different cleaning modes, including wet cleaning, dry vacuum cleaning, and self-cleaning. A brushroll is provided on the base, along with various wipers, squeegees, and/or fluid dispensers.

A rotatable agitator is used in a surface clearing head of a surface cleaning apparatus. The agitator is coupled to the cleaning head at least partially within an agitator chamber and is rotated about a pivot axis. The agitator includes an elongated agitator body and a hair migration portion. The hair migration portion includes a continuous row of bristles and a sidewall. The continuous row of bristles and sidewall are at least partially revolved around and extend along at least a portion of the pivot axis from one of a collection area or a first end region of the agitator and either another collection area or a second end region of the agitator. The sidewall extends substantially parallel to the continuous row of bristles within the hair migration portion. The continuous row of bristles and sidewall are configured to reduce hair from becoming entangled in the bristles and to migrate hair towards the collection area or the first end region of the agitator.

A vacuum cleaner includes a main body, a suction motor in the main body, an extension pipe, a suction head, connected to the suction motor through an extension pipe and including a suction port through which the foreign substances are sucked, a brush inside the suction head, a brush motor configured to rotate the brush, a pressure sensor configured to detect a pressure of air flowing through the suction port, a memory configured to store reference data used to identify the type of surface to be cleaned and a learning model to update the reference data, and a controller configured to determine a suction pressure based on the detected pressure and an atmospheric pressure, and identify the type of surface using the determined suction pressure, a load of the brush motor, and the stored reference data, and to update the stored reference data based on a predetermined update condition.

An autonomous cleaning robot (e.g., an autonomous vacuum) may use a sensor system to map an environment that may be used to determine where to clean. The autonomous vacuum receives visual data about the environment and determines a ground plane of the environment based on the visual data. The autonomous vacuum detects objects within the environment based on the ground plane. For each object, the autonomous vacuum segments a three-dimensional (3D) representation of the object out of the visual data and determines whether the object is static or dynamic. The autonomous vacuum adds static objects to a long-term level of a map of the environment and dynamic objects to an intermediate level of the map. The autonomous vacuum may further add virtual borders, flags, walls, and messes to the map.

Fibrous cleaning material and roller compositions for floor cleaners are provided. The fibrous cleaning material can include a plurality of unit fiber sections. Each unit fiber section in the plurality of unit fiber sections can include a first fine fiber material having a fineness of less than about 1 denier, a second fine fiber material having a fineness of between about 1 and 10 denier, a first bristle material having a fineness of between about 10 and 50 denier, and a second bristle material having a fineness of greater than about 100 denier. A bristle lay of the unit fiber section and a small fiber lay of the unit fiber section can be skew relative to each other.

An agitator for a vacuum cleaner includes an agitator body and a resiliently deformable flap. The resiliently deformable flap includes a front face, a rear face, and one or more protrusions extending outwardly from the front face. An agitator for a vacuum cleaner includes an agitator body and a bristle strip and/or a plurality of tufts arranged in one or more rows along the agitator body. The bristle strip and/or a plurality of tufts includes a first bristle group including a plurality of nylon bristles and at least a second bristle group including a plurality of para-aramid bristles.